Hoshi No Kirby: Betrayal
by EDreams
Summary: UPDATED: Part 23 (Chapter 24) is up! SUMMARY: Dead? Me? No way. Meta Knight attacks! RATED: PG-13 for more-than-mild vocabulary, violence, and scary scenes.
1. PART 1: Tears of the Forest I

PART 1: Tears of the Forest I

The planet of Super Star was filled with a single noise. A noise that never seemed to end, and was probably the only noise the planet would hear for a long, long time.

That noise was complete and utter silence. Nothing stirred or moved. Nobody spoke.

The planet was covered in a dense black fog that engulfed the planet in darkness and despair. It creeped through forests and mountains, engulfed villages, and swallowed everything in it's path. In the span of three days, the once happy, beautiful planet had been reduced to a wasteland. Anything that was there was no more...the mountains had fallen, the forests had been destroyed, and the only remains of the villages were empty ghost towns, void of life and filled with the remains of once what was.

The fog began to creep away, and slowly, the destruction left by the strange force came into view. And floating in space away from the planet, a Galaxy Reporter satellite was watching. In a few minutes, the desolation would be revealed to the entire galaxy.

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It was only 4:00 am in the morning in Dreamland, but everyone in Cappy Town was already glued to their television. A villager who had gotten up early that morning had woken up almost everyone in the village, telling them to turn on their televisions and turn it to the news. The television screen was showing a blurry image from an area of space just outside of the planet of Super Star, a planet almost on the other side of their solar system. The 6-pointed star shaped planet, which normally looked lush, green, and cheerful even from space, was covered in a dense black fog that was slowly creeping away. The newscaster, who was off screen, was talking about how the fog had been there for three days, and during those days, all contact with the planet had been lost. Everyone in the solar system was waiting for any contact from the planet, and the mystery was finally about to be solved.

Sir Meta Knight watched with interest from his room in the castle. Having been to the planet before, he was hoping it's inhabitants were safe. They were friendly people, who had honorable morals and a beautiful planet, and it was that planet that was the last one Sir Meta Knight would want to see destroyed. As the fog continued to creep away, a brown, desolate landscape came into view. Before anything else could be seen, Meta saw an enormous red eye appear in the fog. Suddenly, the fog lifted away from the planet and sailed at the satellite...

And that was the last thing they saw. Everything went black.


	2. PART 2: Playing Alone

PART 2: Playing Alone

Meanwhile, in Lady Like and Sir Ebrum's home, Kirby was playing a piano he had found. The song he was playing was called "Playing Alone", but as he couldn't read, he didn't notice the irony. Nobody else was around, and he hadn't seen his friends all morning. Kirby was lonely and sad, both unusual feelings for him, but he played anyways. Although he couldn't read, he had watched Lady Like and Tiff play, so he knew the song by heart. The song was strangely cheerful, considering it's name, and it lifted Kirby's spirits slightly, but he was still worried. And lonely. And hungry.

After about a minute and a half, Kirby's stomach got the best of him and he stopped playing. He jumped down from the piano and ran out the door of the castle, leaped down the hill and raced into Cappy Town. He barged into the doors of Chef Kawasaki's restaurant, and looked around. It was empty. Regardless, he ran toward the kitchen and didn't find anyone there. Kirby noticed that Chef Kawasaki had left the television on, and Kirby floated over to it so he could see the screen. The screen was showing a strange star-shaped planet with 6 corners, and it was covered in a black fog.

"For the past three days, we have not been able to successfully make contact with Super Star," a news reporter said from off screen. "We have not been able to see what has happened to the planet, as our satellites have been unable to see past this thick fog. Reports from the satellite say that the fog appears to finally be lifting, and now...all we can do is wait."

As if on cue, the image of the planet shorted out, replaced by waves of static and silence, then blackness. Kirby stared at it for a moment, and then he walked off, still worried. And lonely. And hungry. Kirby walked out of Kawasaki's restaurant, and as he walked past it, a poster on the door flew away. It read "OUT OF BUSINESS".

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"...First you draw a circle...then you dot the eyes..." Tiff was sitting on a hill nearby Cappy Town explaining to Tuff how to draw Kirby. It had been a few hours since the news of Super Star.

"Add a great big smile..." she continued while drawing it on a piece of paper. "And PRESTO! It's Kirby!" Tuff simply laughed, and then he looked at the sky thoughtfully. "...I never really realized how wonderful this place is." he said.

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Meanwhile, in Cappy Town...

People were running towards Mabel's home like a plague, each one having the same questions about the black fog, and Mabel was sweating bullets, for she wasn't really a fortune teller, just a wise woman who gave people advice. Unfortunately, she had no idea what was going to happen, and the questions didn't stop coming

She tried to tell them to stay calm, but instead, she found herself unable to speak. Before she knew what was happening, she collapsed onto the table. Everything was silent for a few minutes. Samo, the owner of the only bar in the town and the only one who knew Mabel wasn't a real psychic, slowly walked over to her. As he reached toward her, she jumped up out of nowhere, which caused Samo to jump backwards. The lights burnt out as Mabel spoke in an deep, eerie, sinister, prophetic voice.

"RUN FROM THIS PLACE. THE EMBODIMENT OF DARKNESS IS COMING, AND AT DREAMLAND'S FINAL HOUR, THE LEGENDARY HERO OF THE STARS SHALL BETRAY US ALL. RUN FROM THIS PLACE, THERE IS NO HOPE LEFT FOR YOU HERE...DREAMLAND'S FINAL HOUR IS NEAR."

With those words, Mabel fell to the ground. The lights flickered to life again, and Samo realized it instantly.

"S-s...he's dead."


	3. PART 3: Valley of Kabu

PART 3: Valley of Kabu  
  
Meta Knight was leaving.  
  
"WHAT? Why are you going? Where are you going?" Tuff yelled when he found him. Meta stared at him for a few moments.  
  
"Did you see that darkness?" he replied. "That was no ordinary fog....I must find out what has happened to that planet."  
  
"You're going there? Now? But what if something goes wrong?" Tiff asked.   
  
"Poyo!" Kirby agreed. Meta did not respond. Followed by Sword and Blade, he got into the Halberd.  
  
"I shall see you soon." Meta assured them as the ship began to fly into the air.  
  
-----------------------  
  
One day later...  
  
On the deck of the Halberd, Meta Knight and crew were halfway to Super Star. Meta was more worried than ever...he had just lost contact with another planet nearby it. It was as if the fog was alive... finding planets and eating them like they were merely dinner.  
  
-----------------------  
  
Meanwhile, in DeDeDe's castle...  
  
"This place is so...boring." King DeDeDe moaned. "With 'Holy Nightmare' gone, nothing exciting ever happens here anymore."  
  
"You could go beat up some Waddle Dees." Escargoon suggested.  
  
"What do you take me for? I'm not that mean." King DeDeDe replied. Escargoon rolled his eyes, and DeDeDe pulled out his hammer and knocked him out of the castle like a golf ball.  
  
"See? You're much funner to beat up than Waddle Dees! HAHAHA!!!!" DeDeDe laughed.  
  
-----------------------  
  
Kirby tossed and turned in his bed that night. He was dreaming, but the unusual thing was that he was dreaming a nightmare. This had never happened before.  
  
He dreamt that he was lost on an unfamilar planet. He didn't see light, or dark, and there was no sounds...no smells... only the feeling of death and woe hanging in the ear. It was niether cold nor hot, but this feeling made Kirby shiver. Kirby looked at the sky, and saw an onimous black thundercloud blot out the sun. The cloud got lower, and lower...and opened an enormous red eye... Kirby tried to run, but he didn't move. He was literally frozen to the ground. Slowly, Kirby's entire body turned to ice.. he tried to escape, flailing his arms uselessly. A tear rolled down his cheek.   
  
He was frozen like that, one arm sticking in the air as his face was filled with fear, the tear frozen with it.  
  
Kirby awoke in a cold sweat and fell off the tree, rolling down the hill. He hit the bottom and shivered. It really was cold. Shivering, he began to walk toward the forest... he needed to see someone.   
  
----------------------  
  
Kirby entered the clearing that led to the wisest living thing in all of Dreamland... Kabu. An enormous, ancient, talking stone face, Kabu was unbelievably wise and unbiased, always ready to tell Dreamland's people what they needed, not wanted, to hear.  
  
Kirby walked over to Kabu and bowed, as a sign of respect. Kabu opened his enormous stone eyes, and Kirby told him about his dream.  
  
"The Black Fog worries you, it seems." Kabu said, in a deep voice. "Nightmares may haunt your sleep, but the Fountain of Dreams is not broken. Rather, your worries have kept you from being happy, and your sadness leads to nightmares."  
  
Kirby sighed and asked Kabu about the prediction.  
  
"So the prediction worries you as well... Mabel is correct, Kirby. Someone will betray us, and it may lead to the destruction of our world." Kabu replied.  
  
Kirby asked if it would be him.  
  
"That, I do not know. But when Fate and Destiny mingle, the path they choose for you, you must not stray away from."  
  
Finally, Kirby asked what had happened to Kawasaki and what the Black Fog was.  
  
"Dedede bought Kawasaki, and without a cook, he was forced to close his restraunt. Kawasaki works for Dedede now. As for the black fog, it is something I have not seen before." Kabu said.  
  
Kirby realized that Kabu had told him things that worried him even more. Kirby decided he wouldn't sleep that night... he had someone else to visit. Kirby ran from the clearing, and Kabu closed his enormous stone eyes once again.  
  
----------------  
  
Curio stood on the roof of his shop with an enormous telescope. He aimed it at the stars and looked into it. He could just make out the heart-shaped planet, Ripple Star, far out on the other side of the solar system. He didn't see the black fog.  
  
"Curious. Very curious." he muttered, as he looked around the planet for any sign of it. He could also just make out the Halberd in the distance, although he couldn't make out who was riding it. Even though it was obvious. That's when he saw it... the black fog was coming towards the Halberd... getting ready to strike.  
  
"Oh my..."  
  
---------------   
  
"POYO?" Kirby yelled as he entered the forest. He was looking for Whispy, who wasn't always easy to find. Sometimes, he felt like he was walking in circles. Having an idea, Kirby ran towards a tree and took a deep breath of air. He sucked up the very leaves off of it, and swallowed them. He would use that tree as a mark, so he could find out if he was going in circles or not. He walked on, shivering in the night air. He hoped Meta Knight was safe...


	4. PART 3b: Whispy Woods

PART 3.5: Whispy Woods

Kirby continued walking, hugging himself to keep warm. The night was quiet... so quiet... not even the chirping of the crickets could be heard. In fact, the night was so quiet that he could hear the flowers crunching under his feet. He looked at the trees... softly swaying in the breeze, thier leaves falling off... the sign that Autumn was coming. He found one with no leaves... he remembered that he had removed those leaves to make a mark, so he could see if he was going in circles or not. Kirby turned around to see if he could find another path.

Kirby could see small eyes peeking at him from inside the trees. He shivered again and kept walking. A small creature burst from a clearing and saw Kirby. It looked at him innocently, and Kirby approached it carefully. It ran back into the clearing and Kirby squeezed through the trees so he could follow it. Perhaps it could lead him somewhere.

Kirby got to the other side, and the first thing he noticed were two enormous flowers. They were twice his height, colored like sunflowers. Thier leaves were closed like a buds, but it was obvious that the flowers were fully grown. Kirby walked closer, and the flowers slowly opened thier petals, one by one, revealing faces that stared at Kirby in a way you could only describe as seductive. Of course, Kirby didn't understand this and he continued walking. The flowers began to sway back and forth, like a cobra preparing to strike. Kirby was momentarily distracted by this and watched one of thier movements for a moment.

The flower leaped at him out of nowhere, and captured him like a fly. Kirby was caught in it's peddles and shook around furiously. He struggled, swaying his arms wildly, but the flower had him in it's grasp.

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Mable's death had shooken Samo. Literally. His nervousness caused him to spill drinks, break wine bottles, drop glasses... he slept less, lost his appetite, and he began drinking wine...which he had never done before, although he sold it. He became a nervous wreck, always unfocused and depressed...

It was past midnight, but Samo was wide awake. Broken bottles of beer littered the floor. He was sitting on his bed, his eyes red and baggy from lack from sleep and excessive drinking. He was holding a picture of him and Mabel. His hands shaky, he stared at it blankly. A tear rolled down his cheek and hit the photo as his face turned from one of depressed sadness to unsupressed rage. He gripped the picture tightly.

"Why...did you have to...die..damn you..." he said, his voice slurred. Still gripping the picture, he lifted it above his head and threw it against the wall. The glass shattered and the photograph fell out. As the frame landed, a breeze blew into the room and carried the picture out the window. Realizing what he had done, Samo leaped for it and tripped. As he fell to the ground, he watched the picture fly out of sight.

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Kirby shook himself furiously, desperately trying to escape the flower's grip. The flower finally spit him out, throwing him against a tree, back-first. The flower began to sway again, back and forth in a seductive motion. Kirby noticed the other flower was doing the same, and had an idea. He ran inbetween them, thier eyes following his every move while they swayed endlessly. Kirby stood his ground inbetween them, waiting for them to strike...

Kirby blinked and they both struck simultaneously. Kirby, anticipating this, leaped into the air as they struck. They both hit each other at the same time and got entangled together like a knot. Kirby smiled victoriously and ran off, looking for another path.

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Kawasaki was cooking overtime, all for one person, almost every minute of every day. Whether it be for breakfast, for lunch, for dinner, or just for a snack, Kawasaki was cooking it. Of course, this made Kawasaki wonder something. Why would Dedede want to buy HIM? Dedede hated his cooking. Was there another reason behind it? Could Dedede want something more from him, perhaps? He'd ask him later... he didn't want to wake him up now.

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Kirby found another path and went down it, eventually emerging at a clearing. In the center of this clearing was an enormous apple tree... it was the biggest tree in the entire forest, but there was something special about it... that something being the whole reason he had come all the way there in the first place.

"Poyo!" Kirby yelled, looking at the tree. No answer. He tried again. Still nothing. He tried again and again, until he eventually began to give up. As he turned around, an enormous apple fell from the tree's branches and hit Kirby on the head. Kirby looked at the apple quizically, and then he looked at the tree.

The tree was smiling at him. Kirby grinned as a pair of hollow eyes larger than himself opened. The tree smiled at him again, and Kirby sat down next to the apple.

"What brings you here at this time of the night?" the tree, Whispy Woods, asked. Kirby took a large bite out of the apple (which was as big as Kirby was) and told him about Mabel, the fog, the prediction, and his nightmare. Whispy listened intently.

"That's a very strange prediction, Kirby. I myself have never seen or heard anything like it." Whispy replied. "But I don't think you would ever betray Dreamland, Kirby."

Kirby felt relieved by this, so he took another bite out of the apple. Whispy continued.

"Your nightmare of the black fog worries me. It is said that a dream can be like a reflection... a reflection that shows things that were, things that are, and things that will be... warnings of the dangers yet to come, sometimes. Dreamland could be in grave danger, Kirby... and everything in it. You, me... everything. And the only advice I can give... is to not go looking for the black fog, no matter what happens."

Kirby took another bite out of the apple.

"But you should go now, Kirby... you need your rest." Whispy advised. Kirby simply nodded, ate the rest of the apple, and began to leave. He waved at Whispy just as he exited the clearing.


	5. PART 4: Tears of the Forest II

PART 4: Tears of the Forest II  
  
A Waddle Dee raced past the Halberd's security systems and bounded up the stairs onto the main deck.  
  
"Sir Meta Knight! Sir Meta Knight! The black fog has been spotted!" it yelled, it's voice filled with urgency.  
  
"EVERYONE! TO YOUR STATIONS! PREPARE TO ATTACK!" Meta commanded, his voice filled with rage.  
  
At Meta's command, a huge force field appeared around the ship. Enormous nuclear cannons came out of the side of the ship and aimed, and Sword and Blade pulled out bazookas. Meta drew his sword.  
  
A cloud of darkness split away from the black fog and began to sail around the ship. It smashed into it headfirst while Sword and Blade fired thier bazookas, but the cloud spun around the rocket and broke through the force field. The cloud rushed at Meta Knight, who jumped at it with his sword, but he went right through it and fell to the ground. He was now a shade of dark purple and knocked out. Blade rushed over to Meta Knight's side, and Sword fired rocket after rocket at the black cloud. Each of the rockets sailed right through the black cloud, but the black cloud sailed right through Sword. Sword was thrown backwards, now also a dark shade of purple and knocked out. The black cloud flew into the ship's hull and Blade ran down the stairs, giving chase. Blade knocked down a door and ran past a hallway filled with unconscious purple Waddle Dees. Blade slashed down the engine room's doors and entered.  
  
There was nothing there. Blade looked around for the cloud, knowing it was there somewhere. Carefully, he walked towards the main engine, and realizing he only had one choice, he lifted his sword.  
  
Before he could strike, the engine exploded in a geyser of flame and metal. Blade was thrown backwards, and his sword flew into the ceiling. The black cloud rose out of it and Blade found himself locked in a staring contest with Death. Before he could blink, the cloud opened an enormous red eye and flew through Blade. He blacked out just as the ship began to fall...  
  
-----------------------------  
  
Meanwhile...  
  
Reports of Mabel's mysterious prediction and her death had spread like wildfire. Everyone was worried about the prediction, for Mabel was not exactly known to be wrong about anything, and her mysterious unexplained death made things seem even worse.  
  
On top of that, reports of the Galaxy Reporter 7 mysteriously disappearing around the time that the fog disappeared from Super Star AND reports that contact had been lost with another planet nearby Super Star, just increased the severe panic racing through the Cappy's minds.  
  
Of course, Kirby wasn't worried about any of these things. Meta Knight still wasn't back. It had only been a day, but the Halberd could get from one end of the solar system to the other a lot faster than that, and the solar system was not small by any means.  
  
"Where is everyone..." Kirby thought.  
  
------------------------------  
  
2 days later...  
  
Meta Knight awoke at last. He found himself on an unfamilar planet... it was unpopulated, with no water, no plants, no life...although there looked like there was once a lake a few feet away from him.  
  
"Over here..." whispered a voice in his head. Meta Knight spun around. Nothing.  
  
"This way..." the voice said. An invisible arm pulled him toward the remains of the lake. Meta struggled to escape this strange thing that was gripping him, but another invisible force grabbed his other arm.  
  
"Come with us..." the voices said in stereo. The voices were strangely soothing...almost hypnotising. He wanted to go..but it could be a trap...but what did it matter...  
  
Meta began walking in the direction they had been pulling him.  
  
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He didn't know how long he had been walking. He had been following them for what seemed like forever, and they had stopped at the bottom of a huge grassless hill. Meta began climbing the hill, hoping that whatever they had been leading him to could help him to escape. It took him a few minutes to reach the top.  
  
The first thing he saw was a large tower. Or at least half of it. The roof and the front end had been ripped off, leaving nothing but a circular wall. He guessed that the tower hadn't been very large to begin with. The second thing he noticed was what looked like the remains of a town square, for remains of a fountain and a pathway were there. Meta guessed that this had been some kind of ancient civilization. closer." the voices whispered again, as the strange force from earlier pushed him off the hill.  
  
Meta landed on the bottom a few minutes later, and landed in front of something very unpleasent. It was laying on it's side, and it was something smaller than Kirby, wearing a red dress and a wing wider than it's own body. It looked like it was missing one wing. Steadily, Meta walked closer and the thing jumped to it's feet and pinned Meta against the hill. It's face looked like it had been through a shredder, an eye hung uselessly from it's socket, and it's front looked like it had jumped stomach first into a bed of spikes. It screamed in Meta's face, a scream that ran down his spine and chilled his very bones. Meta kicked it away and it fell to the ground, and it's wing flapped uselessly for a few moments.  
  
Meta took a deep breath and carefully, he began to walk past it. As he passed it, it grabbed onto his leg and wailed. Meta faced it and saw that it's flesh was beggining to melt off it's face, layer by layer, until it's bones began to reveal themselves. Meta tried to shake it off, but it held tight, wailing and flapping it's wing uselessly.  
  
"Save me...the darkness..it destroys...crystal...family...save..." it wailed while holding onto his leg. Meta didn't bother to try to understand what it was saying. Rather, he took out his sword and aimed.  
  
"I am sorry...this is better for you than the living hell that you remain in." Meta said as he stabbed the strange creature, causing it to let go of him and fall to the ground.  
  
"Saving your life would only kill you." Meta said as he turned away from it and walked off. He walked past the fountain, now void of water. Inside it was a small body similar to the one he had ran into earlier. It's eyes and mouth were wide open, as if it had been drowned inside it. Carefully, he walked over to the tower.  
  
"THE DARKNESS... IT CONSUMES US ALL... THERE IS NO ESCAPE." came a million tiny voices from behind him. Turning around, Meta encountered an army of small creatures like the one that had attacked him earlier. Some, without wings, ran at him from the ground while others, faces and bodies torn apart, flew at him from the sky. There were hundreds of them, all of them coming towards him. Meta ran into the remains of the tower and, using his sword as a support, scaled the wall. The small creatures followed him and knocked him off the wall before he could react.  
  
Just before he hit the ground, he was caught by a hundred tiny hands. He realized that the creatures had saved him, and that they were now flying him somewhere. Slowly, one by one, thier soft voices began to sing.  
  
"Mother Nature's sadness, tears that never stop, in a place where the sunshine doesn't glow, and the ground catches not a drop. Forests that get no visitors, trees that are alone, the destruction of thier world is there, and nothing can be grown. These are the tears of the forest, the tears that no one sees. The tears that fall from the trees themselves, the tears of the very trees. Our world was once a wonderful place, filled with life and harmony. Now our world is completely gone, and the tears will flow to the sea. There is nothing left now, nothing to call our own. Fate has planted the seed of death, and now the seed has grown."


	6. PART 5: The Drawing of a Circle

PART 5: The Drawing of a Circle  
  
Laughter filled Meta Knight's ears. Considering the death he had just witnessed, this suprised him. As he had fallen asleep, he awoke and looked around him. There was nothing there. No people. No life. No sounds, no light. No heat, no cold, no air, no sun, no clouds...  
  
Nothing.  
  
The laughter returned again, surrounding him. It was like the giggles of small children. The strange force returned, lifting him into the air. A voice spoke into his mind...  
  
"Save us..."  
  
There was an enormous flash, and Meta blacked out again. The last thing he heard was the laughter, filling his ears once more.  
  
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"Galaxy Reporter 6 recently picked up some very strange images. Images are shown of the same mysterious black fog that surrounded Super Star a few days ago surrounding Ripple Star. Other images show a black cloud splitting up from the fog and flying away, and another image shows a huge red eye appearing in the fog just before we lost contact with the satellite a few minutes ago."  
  
The news reporter showed the images he spoke of, but it was the last one that got Kirby's attention. That eye looked familar, but he couldn't put his paw on it. He thought hard, and an image appeared in his mind.  
  
"Could it be...Dark Matter?" he thought. His thought process was interrupted by Tuff running into the room to announce that the Halberd was returning. Kirby ran after him to see, all thoughts of Dark Matter erased by this happy news.  
  
A short while later, they arrived at the Halberd, in perfect condition. Blade and Sword jumped from the deck to greet Tiff, Tuff, and Kirby. Kirby smiled at them, but the first thing Tiff said was "Where's Meta Knight?".  
  
"He's gone. We looked for him everywhere, we did." Blade replied. "After the fog attacked us, we blacked out. Next thing we know, we're awake and back on the ship, but we can't find Sir Meta Knight."  
  
Kirby's hopes shattered like a wine glass. Meta Knight, his teacher...his counselor....his friend...gone. It wasn't possible...it just couldn't...it had to be a joke...some cruel joke...  
  
"Liar." he said, shaking. Everyone looked at him. This was the first time he had spoken in English,but before Blade could say anything, Kirby was gone. Tiff ran after him.  
  
Kirby arrived at his house. He climbed into the tree, and sat in the old bird nest he slept in. Looking into the sunset, a tear fell down his cheek. He still wasn't used...to death. But it had sunk in. It was true, Meta Knight was...gone. Forever.  
  
"First you draw a circle..." said a voice. Tiff had followed him to the base of the tree and was sitting on the hill, clutching a sketch pad and a pencil.  
  
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Meta Knight was standing on the planet of Ripple Star. The thing was, he was looking at it in the past. He was standing in an illusion, showing what the planet looked like only 10 years ago. 10 years was nothing to him. Or to his kind. He looked at a land filled with joy and happiness..and fairies. An image appeared of a small fairy that he recgonized. The one in the red dress. It was then that he realized where he was... Ripple Star. In the span of three days, it had been destroyed. The image began to fast forward... now, he was looking at the planet only three days ago. He saw the town square and the fog move toward it, engulfing everything it touched in destruction. A gaint eye opened in the center of the fog as it began to engulf the town, turning everything it touched to dust. Everything...except the fairies. He watched as the fairies stared at in shock, watching as it made an eclipse of the sun, and he watched them attempt to escape, only to be engulfed in it. He saw the effect it had on them.  
  
He saw it grab them, rip them to shreds, and throw them away like a chew toy in a dog's mouth. He watched as everything was destroyed...as everything was lost... the tower eroded in moments, fairies decinegrated into rotting corpses, skeletons, or dust, trees were destroyed, grass withered, flowers died. It was as if everything the fog touched sped up time.  
  
And time...destroys everything.  
  
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When this finished, the illusion disappeared, replaced by the images of the fairies.  
  
"Fate has sown her seeds again. Your ship is repaired, but this world was then. Run home now, Star Warrior, another awaits. May destiny lead you to your destination, and may fate destroy what goodness hates." they all said in unison. They vanished as well, and Meta found himself back in Dreamland, on the deck of the Halberd. Blade and Sword weren't there, but Meta Knight jumped off the edge of the ship and landed easily on the ground. He went to find Kirby.  
  
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Kawasaki had forgotten to ask Dedede the question. He was nervous, but he decided to ask him anyways while he was serving him his dinner which was more like a feast really. It had chicken, it had fish, it had soup, it had drinks, it even had a fish cake. No matter, for the more he cooked, the better chances he had of getting his question answered.  
  
As he entered the dining room with this meal, he asked the question.  
  
"Sire, why did you buy ME..you hate my cooking."  
  
Dedede looked at Kawasaki after he had asked this. He stared at him with an expression that looked like supressed rage.  
  
"That's none of your business." he said, grabbing a chicken leg from Kawasaki. "I have my reasons...and..." Dedede stopped.  
  
"For the love of... YOU CAN'T EVEN COOK A CHICKEN LEG RIGHT!" he roared, spitting it out and throwing it at Kawasaki. "Get out of my sight and learn to cook..."  
  
Kawasaki obeyed and sighed. He still didn't understand...Dedede hated his cooking...  
  
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When he arrived at Kirby's house, he found that Kirby was already asleep, with Tiff sitting next to him, a worried smile on her face. Kirby wasn't looking well and he had fallen asleep on the hillside, where he had jumped down after seeing Tiff. Blade and Sword were the first to notice Meta Knight, and they immediately told him what had happened.  
  
"After we got back, Kirby and them were there to meet us." Blade explained. "Tiff asked us where you was, and we told her we couldn't find ya."  
  
"Kirby got sad and called Blade a liar...the first time he's ever spoken in English...and ran out the door." Sword continued. Tiff followed him, and we followed Tiff."  
  
"Honestly, I don't think any of us have ever seen Kirby that sad...or sad at all." Blade said. "He looked sickly and pale, and he was crying. Kirby was crying."  
  
"We tried to reassure him, but he just called Blade a liar again and turned away." Sword finished. "Tiff's been at his side ever since, and he eventually just cried himself to sleep."  
  
"Which reminds me..." Tiff said softly. "I don't think Kirby's been getting much sleep lately. He has seemed worried and sad, as if something within him has died. The Fountain of Dreams hasn't done anything to help, either... so this is the first time he's slept in a while."  
  
"Then we should let him sleep." Meta suggested. "He needs his rest, and I will see him in the morning." Tuff, Sword and Blade agreed, and the four of them began to leave.  
  
"Are you coming, Tiff?" Tuff yelled.  
  
"Just a second!" she replied. "Sweet dreams, Kirby." she whispered as she softly kissed him on the forehead and walked off.  
  
--------------------------  
  
Kirby had a dream that night, but it was not a sweet dream by any means. He was trudging through a sea of dead bodies in the middle of a moonless night...he could feel them under his feet. It wasn't a pleasant feeling. He was tired, and cold, and it had felt like he had been walking through them for weeks. He stopped moving for a minute and took a deep breath, and then he continued.  
  
Something grabbed his feet and pulled him over. He was now looking the bodies in the face, and the bodies were looking at him. One blinked. Kirby screamed out as the sea of bodies began to move, leaping around...right at him. One held his wrists, another his legs, another his waist. Kirby struggled furiously, attempting to knock them off. One of the corpses hissed in his ear. Tiff's corpse.  
  
"Death is only the beginning..."  
  
Kirby's eyes grew wide... the bodies were forming an undead tidal wave, towering thousands of feet above him, hissing furiously, reaching toward him and grinning. Kirby tried to scream, his voice muffled by the rotting hands over his mouth. The tidal wave sailed at him... he saw the faces of Meta Knight and himself, hissing at him, with his own mouth opened wide and Meta Knight carrying a sword in his only arm, the other one having fallen off...  
  
Everything struck him at once, pulling him down, hissing at him. Kirby looked at the ground... and looked at the black fog that had been haunting his nightmares...  
  
The black fog opened a red eye, and an enormous mouth, with black fangs that didn't seem real.. it swallowed him alive, and everything went black.


	7. PART 6: Exceeding Space Time

PART 6: Exceeding Space-Time

Kirby woke up early. 6 hours early, which meant it was midnight. Climbing to the top of the tree, he sat on the branches and looked at the stars.

"Meta..." he cried. He thought about his mentor, his teacher, and his friend, and a single image popped into his head. An image of Dark Matter destroying Meta Knight, an image that cause hatred to pulse through Kirby's veins.

"Dark...Matter..." Kirby growled. He jumped down from the tree, landed on the ground, and ran off. Vengeance was all he could think about, and Kirby definitely had a plan boiling in his young mind. As he began to run down the hill, a shrill voice spoke into his ear.

"Where ya goin', chump?" said the voice of Tokkori. "It's midnight, breakfast isn't for another 6 hours!" Kirby ran past him, ignoring him. Tokkori gave chase and continued to taunt him.

"Honestly, are you ever not hungry? All you ever do is eat, sleep, and breathe." he taunted. Kirby turned around and faced him, rage glowing in his eyes.

"Go...away..." Kirby growled menacingly. Tokkori looked shocked.

"You...can talk?" he whispered. "OK, so eat, sleep, breathe, and TALK. What else can you do?"

"This." Kirby growled as he opened his mouth and took an enormous breath of air, inhaling anything in front of him into his gaping mouth like a black hole. Kirby pulled Tokkori in and spit him back out in the form of a star, sending the bird sailing.

"Stay away. My hill." Kirby said triumphantly as he ran the rest of the way down the hill.

Kirby reached the top of the hill and bounded into Cappy Town, and running into a few people who were out at midnight in the process, bounded out of it and up the pathway leading to the castle. Just as he reached the doors, he was stopped by two Waddle Dees, each carrying spears.

Kirby didn't have to think twice. He inhaled both of the Dees and swallowed them. Nothing was going to stand in his way, for Dark Matter was his, and his alone. He raced past Meta Knight, Tiff, Tuff, and everyone else's rooms, waking them up in the process.

"Kirby, stop!" Meta Knight yelled. He was too late, though. Kirby had already turned the corner and reached the landing place of the Halberd.

------------------------

Quietly, Kirby looked for an entrance. He found the giant rockets at the back end of the ship, and quickly, he climbed into one of them. He discovered it was sealed tight, so he turned around and came face to face with a Waddle Dee. The Dee lifted it's spear, but Kirby inhaled the Dee and spit him back out into the door as a star. The door (and the Dee) exploded on contact with each other, and Kirby entered the ship's engine. Upon entry, he ran through the engine room, bounded up the stairs, and reached the doors to the deck. They were locked. Frustrated, Kirby slammed his fists against the door.

He suddenly had an idea. He ran back towards the engine and jumped out, then he turned around and took a huge gulp of air. He began to suck up the entire engine, using all his strength and power until the entire ship began to move towards him. One of the rockets ripped off of the back of the ship, and Kirby swallowed the entire thing whole.

Kirby began to spin around rapidly and glow. This happened for a few seconds, until Kirby had become a living rocket. "MISSILE!" Kirby screamed as he launched through the roof of the castle and into space.

-------------------------

Meta Knight finally arrived at the Halberd, where he discovered that one of the rockets had been destroyed, and an unconscious Waddle Dee. Tiff ran into the room.

"Where's Kirby?" she asked him.

"Where destiny chooses for him to be." Meta Knight answered thoughtfully, looking at the moon through the hole in the sky. With those words, he left. Tiff looked at the moon.

"Good luck, Kirby." she whispered to the wind.

------------------------

For the past hour, Kirby had been flying through the wonders of the universe, to the edge of where so many had only dreamed to be. But he had no time to appreciate the wonders of the solar system...

For someone had hell to pay, and Kirby was going to deliver.

Kirby ran right into an asteroid field, and found himself having to narrowly avoid asteroid after asteroid. The Missile ability was incredibly quick, but reckless, and hitting anything would cause him to lose the ability, which would cost him his life. He quickly moved right to avoid one, but almost hit another in the process. Quickly, he spun northwest while still moving forward to avoid them both. Another asteroid sailed at him, and he narrowly squeezed under it and above the one he had just dodged. He moved right again to avoid another, but another one flew toward him at the same moment....

But the asteroid was colored black. Before Kirby could respond, it turned around, opened an enormous red eye, and headed for Kirby. Kirby went straight down to avoid the black cloud, but it followed him just as easily. Hoping to lose it, Kirby sailed right back into the asteroid field again, narrowly avoiding getting hit. He heard an explosion, and realized without looking that the cloud had just destroyed the asteroid. Kirby sailed straight up, then right, then straight down. The cloud predicted this and flew in front of him, blocking his way. Kirby tried to run, but the cloud got him first. It phased right through him, causing his missile ability to explode. Kirby, now back to normal, fell on top of an asteroid. The cloud then opened ANOTHER red eye. It had TWO.

The cloud flew at him in a rush and Kirby jumped off the asteroid just as it phased through it, destroying it. It then phased through Kirby, who suddenly felt weak and disorientated. He landed on another nearby asteroid with a crash. The cloud got ready, and sailed at the unconscious Kirby, phasing through both him and the asteroid. Kirby lost consciousness just as the asteroid he was on exploded.

---------------

It had been a week since Kirby had left, which meant two more planets and two more satellites had been hit by the black fog during his absence. Curio looked through his telescope. He could just barely make out the enormous shape of the black fog, coming ever closer to it's next destination.

Tiff was worried sick about Kirby. Literally. For the past week, nobody had seen her outside of her room, for reasons nobody could guess. She barely slept, she barely ate... she always awaited Kirby's return...every day and every night.

--------------

"The 'Black Fog' could be here in about three days." Curio announced. "It was last spotted on a planet right next to us. This means that all of Dreamland may have to evacuate...very soon. Unless Kirby arrives, the universe as we know it is doomed."

These words were met with panic and fear the likes of which Dreamland had never seen. Their star warrior had abandoned them, and now, they had three days to escape...or they would be destroyed with their planet.

-------------

Tiff whispered something under her breath, praying that it would work.

"Warpstar..."

Somewhere far away, Kabu opened his mouth and echoed the words "Warpstar", and a warpstar flew out of his mouth and sailed into space, looking for Kirby.

-------------

"BWAHAHAHA! I told you Kirby was a liar! He betrayed you all when you needed him most!" Dedede laughed. Meta Knight grabbed Dedede by his throat.

"Kirby is not a liar, you bloated, lazy, self-centered jackass!" he roared. "As if you've done anything for this planet when WE needed you most! All you did was buy those damn demons from the enemy, all you did was make things worse!" Rage boiled in Meta Knight's eyes.

"Then why did he leave, then?" DeDeDe asked nervously. At those words, Meta Knight stopped.

"...He left because I left and didn't return. He presumed me dead and he swore revenge." he replied.

"Then..." DeDeDe said smugly. "It's your fault! Go tell all of Dreamland that the real reason they are all going to die is because YOU had to go _inspect things_!" At this, Meta Knight put his sword to DeDeDe's throat.

"I'll go find Kirby myself. That's a promise." Meta Knight said, letting go of Dedede.

------------

The warpstar finally reached Kirby after a full day, and it found him floating in space only half alive. The warpstar flew under him and lifted him up, then slowly, it began to sail back home. The warpstar sailed through space, carrying the slowly dying Kirby with it. It flew through the asteroid field, past stars and planets...

It had flown for about a half-hour when it slowly passed by the black fog. The fog opened not one, not two, but THREE huge eyes, and three small clouds split from it and flew after the warpstar. The warpstar tried to escape, but they were catching up and Kirby was slowly falling off..

"OVER HERE!" yelled Meta Knight's voice. The warpstar noticed Meta Knight, flying on the repaired Halberd, and it flew towards him. The warpstar landed on the deck while Meta launched a missile at the clouds from the cannons on the ship. The missiles homed in on the eye of one of the clouds, hitting it dead-on 5 times. The eye exploded into chunks and the cloud decinegrated. The other two gave chase and Meta launched another missile as he set the ship to go towards Dreamland. The clouds easily rolled around the missiles and continued to relentlessly chase the ship. Meta launched another missile at them, but again, they both dodged it effortlessly. The clouds flew straight up, and Meta watched as they flew down like missiles... right towards Kirby.

Meta screamed in rage, and his cape transformed into a pair of wings. He flew towards the clouds, sword drawn, and flew right into them. They phased through him and exploded, and Meta Knight fell back onto the ship. He dropped his sword just as his blood ran cold.


	8. PART 7: It Arrives, It Arrives

**PART 7: It Arrives, It Arrives**

Slowly but surely, Kirby's eyes opened a day later, for he had recovered at last. Realizing where he was, who had saved him, and how long he had to save his home, Kirby wasted no time slinging Meta Knight over his shoulders and jumping onto his warpstar. By instinct, he grabbed Meta Knight's sword as well, wasting no time to do poses as a green hat appeared on his head and he became Galaxia Kirby. Kirby kicked off the ground, and the warpstar rocketed immediately rocketed towards Pop Star.

------------

Standing at the entrance to the enormous escape ship, a round donut-like silver rocket as big as the country itself, made out of titanium over five thousand feet thick, was Chief Bookem, holding a list of people's names like it was the Book of Life itself. He was quickly checking off people as they entered the ship, to make sure they were not missing anyone. To him, this list WAS the Book of Life, for one mistake would cost someone thiers. They had been preparing for this for a very, very long time...the ship had been hidden underneath the sea in the case of such an emergency, and the list came from official goverment records (also known as Dedede's servants and the filing cabinets). Family by family, they entered, and family by family he checked off thier names. It was a long process, but it worked, and it would ensure everyone's survival, as long as they could get everyone on and escape in time.

Chief Bookem had failed to notice one detail, though... one name was missing from the records.

------------

Calculating how fast the warpstar could move and how far away Pop Star was from him, Kirby figured he could reach Pop Star in about a half hour, provided there were no interruptions. That might not be fast enough, but for the love of everything he cared for, he had to try. Kirby hit the side of the Warpstar with his left foot.

"Dedede's Castle, Dreamland, Pop Star." he ordered, noticing a red eye far in the distance. The warpstar immediately sped up and swerved left as Kirby faced the eye, Galaxia in one hand and Meta Knight, still slung over his back, in the other. The eye got steadily closer and closer to Kirby, as beads of sweat gathered on Kirby's forehead, the warpstar getting closer and closer to the eye at the same time. In mere seconds, the eye was less than half a mile away from Kirby, and Kirby realized the eye alone was over ten thousand yards in diameter. The black fog itself was even larger, and it seemed to be sucking away light itself like a black hole. The black fog stopped in front of Kirby, silently waving around in the fashion of mist, staring at him with it's enormous eye, which was always watching, never blinking. Beads of sweat fell from Kirby's forehead, but he held Galaxia in front of him. The black fog did not blink... in fact, it opened an enormous black mouth, covered in fangs made of the fog, fangs that seemed real and unreal at the same time... with these fangs, it appeared to grin menacingly, towering over Kirby and his warpstar in all its million yards of terrible glory.

Kirby was afraid. Kirby was very, very afraid.

-----------

Tiff had intentionally locked herself into her room in the castle. The day before, she had managed to remove her name from the records completely, hoping they would not notice she was missing. She was alone now, the only person left on the planet, and it was raining, thunder breaking the depressing darkness all around her. She had made a doll of Kirby, and she currently hugged it softly.

She hadn't even gotten a chance to say goodbye.

-----------

The black fog moved towards Kirby slowly, it's body moving around slowly like a black mist. It's eye stared at him constantly, unblinking. As it got closer and closer to Kirby, the very air, or lack thereof, turned very, very cold. Kirby felt like he was caught in a glacier, and it was then that he realized that he was slowly beggining to freeze solid. Kirby struggled as the front of his warp star turned into solid ice. The warpstar didn't move as it began to slowly freeze into a solid glacier. Remembering the nightmare, Kirby jumped off of the warpstar, Meta Knight slung over his back, the sword in his hand, right toward the eye of the black fog.

As Kirby got closer and closer to the eye, he began to slow down. His face began to turn blue as he continued to slowly swing the sword. The rest of Kirby's face turned a shade of bluish white like water, said water beginning to turn into blocks of ice. Slowly, Galaxia turned into an enormous blue icicle, Kirby's body slowly freezing with it. Slowly, the same began to happen to Meta Knight's body as Kirby slowly got closer and closer, attempting to strike the eye just once...

The rest of Kirby's body froze, his face forever frozen as one of pure, righteous fury. He was stuck in the position of attacking, the sword in his arms.

The fog laughed, a laugh that boomed through the solar system, deep and cold, icy like a tundra. The fog opened it's enormous "mouth", and swallowed Kirby whole. It then flew away quickly, headed towards Pop Star.

-----------

The huge escape ship's doors began to close shut as the last person, Chief Bookum himself, entered. Rockets on the bottom of the ship activated and with an enormous roar, the ship burst through the clouds and the atmosphere, entering space.

As the ship rose, Cappies looked into space for the first time through the enormous windows...looking at it in all it's glory. Some of there stared at thier own planet for what they knew would be the last time in awe, others just stared at the wonders of his space Young children sat on the shoulders of thier brothers or sisters, moms or dads while some of thier other family members idly chatted.

It was one of these children that asked the question on everyone's mind...

"What's going to happen to us?"

-----------

Tiff opened a music box and stood near the window, looking into the sky while the music box played. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she thought of Tuff, and she thought of her mom and her dad, of her friends, of Kirby and of Meta Knight, of the Waddle Dees... but she simply couldn't go. She belonged here... she knew she did.

She hadn't got a chance to say goodbye to any of them... not one. She hadn't even told them she wasn't going... but if she was going to die waiting for Kirby, so be it...

For she would stand her ground, waiting for him... until the very end.

-----------

One of the young Cappies looking through the window saw something that caught her attention. It was small and red...and it was getting bigger, like a balloon being inflated. Having no idea what it was, she skipped over to her mom, who was idly gossiping with a few of the other older women.

"Mommy, what's that?" the girl asked, tugging on her mother's dress. Her mother didn't answer her, so she asked again, pulling on her mother's dress harder and harder.

"Not now, dear..." her mother responded, giving her daughter an icy stare. Ignoring her mother, the daughter pulled again, and the mother gave up. The daughter pointed to the window, and pointed at an enormous eye, which was steadily getting closer and closer and closer. The mother stared at it in horror, her face turning white.

"T-t-t...THE BLACK FOG!" she screamed, and suddenly, everyone else noticed it. A shockwave of panic was sent through the building...people ran every which way, screaming thier lungs off like it was the end of the world.

And it was.

Chief Bookum blew on his whistle suddenly, and everyone was quiet. With a megaphone in his hand, he turned towards everyone.

"EVERYONE, INTO YOUR ROOMS NOW. DO NOT MAKE A SOUND. I REPEAT, INTO YOUR ROOMS. DO NOT PANIC. DO NOT MAKE A SOUND." he ordered. In a paniced rush, everyone raced by him into thier rooms. Chief Bookum looked at the ship itself now.

"Activate Stealth Mode." he commanded. From the outside, the ship and everyone in it appeared to completely disappear. The eye reached the ship, followed by the rest of the black fog and a million other eyes. They stared into the ship's windows as if they knew something was really there.

Chief Bookum stared at them back, unknown to them. He was staring death in the face, and niether side was blinking.

-----------

The fog touched Pop Star's atmosphere and slowly began to spread over it like a virus. The normally yellow Pop Star slowly began to turn a shade of black as it spread over the planet's sky, blocking out the sun. Tiff stared in shock as everything went dark, the fog covering the sky like a blanket.

In mere minutes, it covered the entire planet in darkness. Tiff looked into the fog in horror as an enormous eye appeared over Kirby's house in the fog. On the ground, an image of the same eye appeared and the fog began to spread down towards that eye. As soon as it touched it, it began to spread along the ground in all directions, sending out a thick black mist that covered everything in fog. Slowly, it creeped towards the castle.

Knowing the end was nigh, she got on her knees.

"Forgive me, family..." she prayed. "Forgive me...everyone..."

Before she could say anything else, the fog engulfed the wall, destroying it. It was now touching her feet.

"Forgive me, Kirby..." she finished as she jumped from the castle wall into the fog.


	9. PART 8: Cradle

**PART 8: Cradle**

Tuff watched as Dreamland was completely destroyed... he knew Tiff hadn't left... he was the only one who knew. The only one...

------------------

The day before, he had seen Tiff erase her name from the records. He was suprised by this, and Tiff saw him and became angry.

"What do you want?" she asked. He didn't reply.

"...What are you doing?" he asked her. She stared at him for a moment, then the anger on her face vanished completely, and she began to cry.

"I'm not going, that's what I'm doing." she answered, her voice wandering. Tuff tried to say something in response, but he simply couldn't find the words. Before he knew what was happening, Tiff grabbed him firmly by the shoulders.

"Don't tell anyone I'm staying. Don't ask questions. Don't come back for me." she ordered, in a voice as firm as her grip. "I beg you...just let me stay...it's better for me." Tuff didn't respond, he just nodded.

"Thank you..." she said simply, before walking away.

------------------

She hadn't even said goodbye.

------------------

"Floating in the sky,  
Surrounded by the dead...  
Your quest has not ended yet,  
And we place this gift upon your head."

Kirby awoke with a start. He was floating above the clouds...no black fog...no dead Meta Knight...no destroyed Pop Star...he was surrounded by a million singing fairies, hand in hand, spinning around him. Floating above him was an enormous medallion, although he couldn't tell what was engraved on it.

"Heaven?" Kirby asked in awe. At these words, a fairy appeared in front of the medallion. It was smaller than he was, with a red dress and pink hair.

"No, Kirby, this is not heaven...not exactly." she said, her soft voice seeming to echo around the room...if it wasa room. Kirby opened his mouth to say something, but the fairy flew closer and put a finger to her lips.

"No questions." she whispered. "Only answers." With that, the fairy grabbed the medallion with one hand and began to spin the other hand around in circles. The very fabric of the air itself began to rotate around and around her hand like a whirlpool, until a hole appeared in the air. The medallion began to glow and an image of Tiff appeared. She was holding a small pink doll that looked a lot like him and staring out the window in awe.

Seconds later, Tiff got onto her knees and the wall exploded. Kirby heard her say "Forgive me...everyone..." just before it exploded, and then she forgave something else and he watched as she jumped off the edge of the castle wall.

As Kirby watched in shock, she fell from the castle wall and right into the fog, which immediately swallowed her alive. Her doll was not swallowed, though, but rather, a bunch of clawed hands appeared in the fog and began to ferociously rip the Kirby doll apart...to Kirby, this was eerily symbolic...and very frightening.

The next image he saw was of a giant silver ship floating in space above Pop Star, now an inky black rather than a cheerful yellow. The image afterwards showed Tuff, watching this through the window of a room in the ship.

Kirby realized it then...all his questions had been answered. Tiff, instead of going to the ship, had waited for him to return until the very end...which must mean he was dead...

"You are not dead." interrupted the fairy, reading his thoughts. Kirby shuddered at this, and then sighed. It was all his fault...he let his anger cloud his mind...

"You still have a chance. You have three days to save your home..." she said, interrupting his thought again. Kirby started to interrupt her himself.

"You can not bring her back, Kirby." the fairy said, reading his thoughts again. "But do not let her death be in vain." Before Kirby could say anything, the fairy put the medallion around his waist and put a finger to his lips. She held out one of his hands and clutched it. When Kirby opened his hands again, he saw the doll of himself. Kirby stared at it in shock...somehow, it was still there...

"May the memory of the one you treasure be your strength, and may this medallion bring you light where there is none." the fairy finished, clapping her hands together. With a flash, Kirby vanished.

------------------

Dedede sat in his throne...in his own enormous royal escape ship, red and orange with the familiar symbol of a white rabbit on the top. The escape ship was as large as a rocket, equipped with everything his original castle had had. You could almost say Dedede was preparing for this for a long, long time. Dedede sat on his throne and pressed a button.

An enormous television rose from the ceiling. It flashed on, revealing a man in a dark blue suit, wearing a purple tie over an orange shirt. He had straight green hair, glasses with oranges lenses, and pale skin. Words above him read "Holy Nightmare". Dedede smiled.

"Welcome back, Dedede." said the man, who was only called Salesguy, AKA Customer Service. "What can I do for you today?"

--------------------

Rain fell against Kirby's face, sliding down his cheeks and forehead like sweat...it was falling with his tears. He was looking at the sky, crying, holding the doll of himself in his hand. A golden medallion with a tree engraved on it was around his waist, glowing, revealing some light even in the darkness... the black, endless fog... and the desolate planet he had once called home.

It was raining endlessly, and Kirby knew he had something to do. But he wasn't sure how many people would die in the process... he would rather die first...

A lightning bolt split the sky..the fog was ever moving. Kirby walked onwards, knowing where he needed to go...

--------------------

Dedede continued to smile.

"You can tell me what you think you were doing when you sent out the Black Fog. And you can tell me everything about it." Dedede demanded. Salesguy looked shocked.

"We couldn't have released anything. We just got back...just now." he said, remaining calm.

"Tell me about the black fog, then." Dedede ordered.

"Fine...fine...as you wish. The black fog is part of a powerful creature called Dark Matter....I know you've heard of him. They are not one and the same, though." explained Salesguy. "They are part of each other, yes, but not the same...."

--------------------

Kirby was lost. The Fountain of Dreams couldn't possibly be destroyed, but he couldn't find anything on the planet... and he only had three days before the black fog escaped. Kirby didn't recognize anything...

Out of nowhere, something flew at him and hit him in the head... it looked to him like the remains of a cradle... it was empty, though, except for some blankets and was probably the last thing left on Pop Star. So to him, this was a sign...

Of death and rebirth. Of losing something and finding it again. Of everything this quest stood for. Kirby pressed on, more determined than ever.. the cradle disintegrated into dust as it flew back into the fog.

"Cradle..." Kirby whispered, walking towards the place it had come from.


	10. PART 9: Holy Nightmare

**PART 9: Holy Nightmare**

"...and that is everything I know about it." Salesguy finished. Dedede stared at him, and quickly changed the subject.

"So, you're back then... how?" he asked.

"Let's just say that the fog has a silver lining." Salesguy replied, smirking.

--------------------

Kirby tucked the doll behind the medallion and looked into the sky, looking for a sign..any sign...

Nothing but fog. Pure fog all around him. Not exactly what he had in mind, but he pressed onwards...looking for anything that might help him on this now miserable planet...

He wondered if he was going anywhere...it was impossible to see through the fog, which was already unnerving as it was. Sometimes, red eyes would appear in the fog and stare at him... Eyes that seemed to pierce through his soul, and he knew who they belonged to... but something seemed to keep on pushing him onwards, giving him a boost of confidence that kept him moving... he touched the medallion...

An enormous flare of bright light shot out of it, causing every bit of fog in front of him to scatter. Kirby grinned, and used this newfound power to help him find his way.

--------------------

After the fog had passed the ship, Chief Bookum sighed. They still had a lot to do, but right now, he just wanted to go to his room and sleep...and dream of home...

For sleep was the only way he'd ever be home again.

As soon as he got into his room, he went to his computer, which was making a beeping sound. As he turned on on the monitor, a message flashed on his screen.

"SCAN COMPLETE. TWO PEOPLE(S) MISSING.

FIRST NAMES: SAMO AND TIFF.."

He didn't bother to read the rest, for he was out the door in the work of a moment.

-------------------

"But that's not the point." Salesguy said. "What can I do for you today?" Dedede looked at him.

"Nothing, unless you can fix this planet." he said.

"BWAHAHAHAHA!" Salesguy laughed. "Not even if you paid me...which you would. Believe me, I'd rather NOT have that pink traitor banish us to whatever hell we were banished to AGAIN, thanks." Dedede looked around nervously.

"But what if I helped you destroy Kirby? Then could you fix the planet?" he asked. Salesguy put a hand to his chin.

"Now that's an interesting proposition." he said. There was silence for a few minutes. "You've got yourself a deal. So, what will you have?"

"Demons that can survive the black fog AND destroy Kirby. Tons of them." Dedede said. He looked around and said something else, in a whisper that could barely be heard.

"This is interesting. Holy Nightmare gets money, Kirby is destroyed, and you have something to rule without us having anything to worry about." Salesguy responded thoughtfully. "We'll send them immediately." Dedede looked surprised.

"Not here, not here!" he yelled. "Send them right over to Kirby. Block his path." Salesguy simply nodded.

"You've got yourself some demons. And a deal." he replied. Dedede turned off the screen and looked around.

"Kawasaki! I've got a job for you!" he yelled. Kawasaki entered.

"Yes, your majesty?" he said. Dedede grinned (in a way that just barely seemed friendly).

"But before you do it, I want to give you something.." he said. Dedede threw something at him... a soda of some sort. "It's yours. Drink it." Kawasaki looked at Dedede suspiciously, but he did it anyways. Kawasaki felt strange all of a sudden, and collapsed to the ground instantly. Smiling, Dedede walked over to Kawasaki.

"Kirby is your enemy. Always has been...destroy him. Go to Pop Star...find him...kill him." Dedede whispered into his ear. Suddenly, as if under a trance, Kawasaki got up from the ground, pressed the button next to the sliding exit door, and left the room immediately. Dedede smiled.

"Whatever you sent me, it really works." he said confidently, looking at the screen.

--------------------

It had been 6 hours since Kirby had begun, but it felt like weeks. The newfound power of the medallion gave him sight, but only a limited amount of it... he could only see so much, and only so far... but it was helping him find his way. That's all that really mattered.

He had found a cave, and hoping it would lead him somewhere, he had entered it. It was very dark, which was why he was glad he had the medallion to guide him. It was also wet, filled with rocks of all sorts, stalactites and stalagmites.. and.. bats?

Kirby aimed the medallion at the ceiling. Tens about hundreds upon thousands upon millions of bats filled the cave. Kirby stared at them in shock... he had never seen this many in one place, much less any at all. The bats screeched in stereo, filling the cave with sound. Kirby covered his ears as the bats flew at him all at once and the cave began to collapse above him. Kirby made a run for it, the bats giving chase.

He jumped over a stalagmite, avoiding rocks which fell behind him and the bats, which were giving endless chase, easily avoiding the rocks and obstacles and easily moving twice as fast as Kirby. The bats reached Kirby, flying around him as he ran. They screeched constantly, distracting Kirby and making him run into a rock wall. At least ten of the bats swooped at Kirby, and bit him wherever they could, so he flapped his arms wildly, trying to shake them off, but they held tight. He kept on running, but for some reason, found himself getting weaker, as if something was sapping his strangth...

Realizing what was happening, he threw himself against a wall, knocking the bats off of him. They flew at him again as the rest of the million bats turned the corner after him, followed closely by the collapsing cavern. Kirby jumped against the wall and jumped off it onto another wall a second later. While he was on this wall, he took an enormous breath of air and swallowed one of the bats.

Time seemed to slow down as Kirby flipped into the air three times and began to glow. A bunch of bats flew around him as a pair of huge purple wings and white fangs appeared on him. His skin turned purple and his eyes turned red...

"VAMPIRE!" Kirby shouted, spreading his wings and flying away. He found himself flying twice as fast, and he discovered he could shoot waves of supersonic sound at objects, allowing him to fly easier. This was a new ability to him, but he had never needed one more. He found himself almost out flying the bats, when he discovered that they could move just as fast as he could. Turning through the many twists of the cave, and almost running into walls in the process (as he couldn't use the medallion while flying, it was around his waist), he flew faster, the bats giving constant chase. Kirby couldn't risk turning around to fight them, so he flew onwards. The cave was beginning to fall apart even faster, and Kirby wondered just how much longer he could keep this up.

Kirby ran right into a rock wall. He looked around. There wasn't any other way! He had flown into a dead end! The cave rumbled again, as loud shrieking continued to fill it. The bats had found him again...there was no escape now.

He flew at them, and they flew at him. Kirby fired a wave of supersonic at some of the bats... his voice was louder than theirs, which may explain why the waves knocked quite a few of them out. He flew into the living cloud of bats, firing waves of supersonic and avoiding their sharp fangs. Since he was flying, he couldn't use the medallion's light to see, so he was forced to use the supersonic to see if there was a rock wall in his path. He shrieked and the sound returned to him quickly, so he turned around immediately, scraping one of his wings against a rock wall in the process. He fired another blast of supersonic at the bats, knocking some of them out, flew through the gap he left in them, and turned a corner quickly as the sound of the supersonic returned to him.

Rocks fell all around him. Remembering the asteroid field, he flew left and right to avoid them. The entire cave was almost buried. He went into a path he hadn't visited yet, and the walls in the tunnels behind him collapsed. Huge rocks rained from the ceiling, and Kirby dodged them left and right.. until one of them landed on him, knocking him out of the sky and smashing him against the ground.

With a flash, the vampire ability was lost. Kirby struggled with the rock...he couldn't breath under the weight. It sunk lower and lower onto him, crushing him... he couldn't breathe or move...the rock was twice his size... furiously, he pushed up against it with all his strength...

The image of the doll app. Kirby's expression turned into one of vengeful determination. He screamed, pushing against the rock harder and harder, until it began to move slowly...

The faces of every person he had ever known appeared in his mind. Screaming, Kirby threw the rock off of his body like it was nothing.

----------------------------

Kawasaki walked past Chief Bookum, who was desperately searching for Tiff, Samo, and Kirby. Bookum took no notice of Kawasaki, with ditto to Kawasaki. Kawasaki walked toward the exit of the ship and pressed the button next to the large silver sliding door. As the door slid open, Kawasaki walked out of the ship like space didn't exist, and in a flash of green light, he vanished.

The doors slid closed.

---------------------------

Kirby reached the end of the tunnel. The exit was right in front of him. Slowly, he walked toward it, determined to reach whatever was on the other side.

The cave rumbled again, throwing Kirby off his feet. The rest of the tunnel collapsed behind him as the head of an enormous, 50-foot long, poisonous, black and red, eyeless, spiked worm (Or was it a snake? Kirby couldn't tell, but it looked more like a mutant worm...) broke through the wall in front of him. It bared it's black, venomous fangs and struck at Kirby suddenly, who quickly jumped out of the way.


	11. PART 10: Appearance! Super Demon Beast!

**PART 10: Appearance! Super Demon Beast!**

The worm hissed at Kirby and struck again, showing it's sharp fangs. Kirby jumped away again, but it easily turned upwards and grabbed him with his teeth. It shook him around wildly and threw him against a wall. Blood flowed from the fresh holes now in Kirby's skin. Kirby got onto the floor and rolled away as the demon worm struck again quickly, turned around and snapped at Kirby, who got out of roll and back flipped onto a wall. The demonic worm snapped at him again, but Kirby jumped off the wall and grabbed one of the demon's spikes. The demon quickly rammed itself against the wall just as Kirby flipped off the spike and landed on the demon's head. The demon ran side-first into a wall, getting it's spikes caught in it. Kirby sighed in relief, but the demon's entire body began to spin around wildly, throwing Kirby off. The demon's tail emerged from the wall... it was covered in blood-red spikes.

The demon began to pound it's tail against the floor, slowly heading towards Kirby. Kirby slid under it just as it hit the place he was standing, leaving enormous holes in the floor. The demon removed it's head from the wall, and spit three globs of venom at Kirby, who slid under the attacks just as the demon swung it's tail at him. Kirby was hit by the tail and sent flying. Blood poured from more fresh dents in Kirby's body. The demon swayed back and forth, like the flowers in the forest, and then it struck at Kirby again, using both it's head and it's tail. Kirby jumped between the two attacks just as the demon turned around and spit more globs of venom at him. Kirby rolled around these as the demon swung it's tail and snapped at him. Kirby did a handstand, flipped in-between the two attacks and grabbed onto one of the demon's spikes on it's body.

The demon's body began to spin around again, the spikes ripping through the ground as it spun. Kirby flipped from spike to spike, quickly climbing up it's body. The demon fired globs of venom at him, which Kirby quickly rolled under. Kirby ran around it's body and the demon suddenly disappeared into it's hole, taking Kirby with it. Kirby was thrown backwards by this and grabbed onto a spike, as the demon sped into the narrow tunnel like a runaway roller coaster, constantly spinning the rest of it's body around in the process.

Kirby climbed from spike to spike, desperately trying not to be thrown off as the demon sped through the rocky tunnel at speeds well surpassing a hundred miles per hour. The snake-like demon turned a corner sharply, almost throwing Kirby off in the process. Kirby grabbed onto another spike, which suddenly fell off. Kirby had a sudden idea, and he put the spike into his mouth, keeping it there until the demon reached the other side of the tunnel, holding on for his life and quickly scaling it's enormous body in the process. Eventually, a bright ray of light appeared.. they were reaching the end of the tunnel. Kirby swallowed the spike.

Just as the demon emerged from the tunnel, Kirby's body began to glow as he did three somersaults into the air, his skin turning yellow and a helmet appearing on his head. Needles came out of the helmet at his will.

"NEEDLE!" Kirby yelled, turning upside down and sailing at the worm head-first, needles ready. The snake snapped at him suddenly, and missed as Kirby impaled it's stomach with the needles. Deep inside the worm, Kirby retracted the needles, and blood trickled from the worm's wounds. Kirby then proceeded to flip off of the snake, helmet and all. There were now twenty-four holes in the worm's belly, each one with blood flowing like wine from them. The worm roared in fury, smashing it's tail against the ground.

Kirby crouched on the ground, surrounded by the needles on his helmet. The enormous thrashing of the gigantic demon was coming closer, ripping the ground apart and slowly getting closer and closer to Kirby.

Kirby held his ground as the demon's tail smashed into the needles on his helmet, puncturing it's tail twenty-four more times. Blood trickled down the needles and down Kirby's helmet, eventually pouring around Kirby into a small puddle.

The worm roared in fury, and Kirby immediately retracted his needles and rolled out from under it, just as it responded by lashing it's heavily spiked tail at Kirby, knocking him onto the ground. Kirby quickly got up, aimed forward, and charged at the worm, needles ready. The worm hissed and snapped at Kirby, ramming it's head into the needles. The worm lashed at Kirby again and again, Kirby deflecting it's blows with his helmet. Blood poured all around him and the snake screamed, firing an enormous glob of flesh melting acid.

Kirby crouched to the ground, needles ready. The acid exploded against his helmet, instantly melting it. Kirby slid away as the worm fired again, lashing out it's enormous tail at him. It smashed Kirby against a wall and quickly snapped at him, grabbing him with it's teeth. It threw him against a wall, which Kirby quickly held onto with his remaining strength. He jumped from the wall just as the worm struck again, firing another glob of acid. The acid melted the wall and the snake lashed out with his tail.

Kirby didn't have enough time to dodge. The spikes made five enormous gashes, one just under his left eye. Kirby looked at the worm and jumped at it's neck as it snapped at him again. Kirby held on as the worm broke through the ceiling, breaking out of the cave.

------------------------

Deep in space, some of the Cappies looked at their once peaceful home through the ship's windows. Suddenly, the fog burst away, revealing an enormous snake thing and a bright light which could be seen all the way from space. The snake thing appeared to be wildly snapping around at something.

------------------------

Kirby let go of the worm as it snapped at him again, just as it burst from the tunnel. Kirby somersaulted over another attack, grabbed a spike, and snapped it off. Blood poured from another wound as Kirby swallowed the spike, once again transforming into Needle Kirby. He aimed at the snake's head and ejected the needles from his helmet like small rockets.

The worm turned quickly, but a dozen of the needles hit it in the neck. The worm cried out again and charged at the floor, fangs bared, while Kirby quickly did a cartwheel to avoid the attack. The snake crashed into the floor, knocking Kirby off his feet.

-----------------------

The snake thing was gone, but the light was still there. The Cappies watched curiously as this continued. Suddenly, the snake burst from the ground again, snapping it's jaws.

-----------------------

Kirby narrowly avoided the worm as it broke through the ground again and fired more balls of acid at him. Kirby slid under this and jumped from spike to spike, scaling the worm's neck. The worm tried to knock Kirby off by throwing itself at the ground. Kirby ran up the spikes like stairs, reaching the other side just in time to avoid the attack. The worm reared back and it's body began to spin. It began to flail around, trying to knock Kirby off balance. Kirby reached it's head and jumped high into the air.

----------------------

As the Cappies watched from space, the snake began to flail around wildly, the fog jumping around in motion with it, as if whatever was making that light was being tossed around like a rag doll...

Could Kirby be on Pop Star?

----------------------

Kirby took off his helmet, held in it's hands, and dropped down at the worm's head, helmet first. Just as the helmet began to disappear, he smashed it into the worm's brain and quickly somersaulted off, ready to strike again, even though he had just lost an ability. Blood flowed down the worm's face as it blindly hunted down Kirby, flailing madly.

It found Kirby again, and fired another glob of acid at him. It hit the ground and exploded, melting the ground and splashing against Kirby's skin. Kirby felt an intense burning and the skin on his back began to split...

But he wouldn't scream. He ran towards the worm again as it shot another glob of acid at him. Kirby gulped and took a deep breath of air, then he inhaled and swallowed the acid.

Kirby cried out. The acid ripped through his throat, then through his stomach. As Kirby fell to the ground in pain, he began to glow. Slowly, he stood up again as his skin turned green and he began to shake furiously.

"ACID!" he screamed, feeling an unbelievable pain as he exploded into enormous globs of acid, which flew around the area, melting everything in sight.

As the blasts hit the worm, it's spikes and skin began to melt, to the point where you could see it's insides. The worm roared in rage and looked for Kirby, who had reformed back to normal. He looked as bad as the worm, for parts of his skin had melted off. Both were determined to emerge victorious, but Kirby didn't cry out...or wince.

Kirby ran around holes the acid had made as the snake snapped at him again and again in quick succession, determined to destroy Kirby once and for all. Kirby slid and rolled around the blows, and jumped at the worm.

Kirby had something ready. In mid-jump, he held a leftover needle in his hand and put it in his mouth, swallowing it. He transformed into Needle Kirby and launched himself at the worm's neck like a rocket, needles ready.

Kirby exploded through one end of the worm's neck and out the other, sending blood everywhere, splashing in all directions and covering Kirby, who landed on the ground, the worm's blood flowing down his face with his own. The worm roared as it fell to the ground, blood flowing all around it like a river. Kirby looked at it, then he looked to the sky, weakly doing a victory pose.

"I'm coming..." he said, smiling weakly.


	12. PART 11: Way of the Ninja

**PART 11: Way of the Ninja**

Kirby jumped down to the floor of the tunnel and exited it. He was seriously injured, holes dotted his body, five scars were on his left, other gashes and wounds dotted different parts of his body, and the acid had pretty much ripped his throat in half. Regardless of these injuries, he was alive, so he continued onwards, knowing the chances of finding anything that could heal him on the now desolate planet were slim.

But that worm...and those bats... this planet still had things living on it...and he had to be alert. He aimed his medallion all around him, trying to find any sign of a demon waiting to strike. He turned around and sighed. He still had a long way to go...

His thought process was interrupted by something appearing out of nowhere and stabbing him in the back with a small sword. Kirby turned around quickly, but he didn't see anything. Suddenly, something grabbed him around his waist and jumped high into the air, flying further and further away until the tunnel was out of sight. Kirby struggled to escape the grip of whatever was holding onto him, but to no avail. Weakened by his wounds and his struggles, Kirby blacked out.

-----------------------

Tuff was the only one who knew where Tiff was, and it was a fact that rattled his conscious. He had noticed the ship hadn't gone anywhere since the fog had struck nine hours ago. This worried him as well, so he decided to ask Dedede when they were leaving. He walked over to the "royal escape ship", which Dedede had connected to the main ship, and pressed the button to open the ship. He entered it and began to search for Dedede, but he instead found Escargoon.

"When are we leaving?" Tuff asked. Escargoon looked at him.

"Never." he replied. "His Majesty believes that the planet will return to normal in a span of three days, and if not, he has a little surprise for the black fog."

"WHAT?" Tuff yelled. "We have to get out of here! That black fog will destroy us!" Escargoon simply whistled, and five hundred armored Waddle Dees, wielding spears, surrounded Tuff.

"Send him away." Escargoon ordered as Tuff ran away from the Waddle Dees.

---------------------

Kirby awoke again three hours later... the medallion jumped to life as he did so, revealing stone walls and metal bars and a windowless cell... Kirby was in a dungeon. Kirby pounded on the bars with his fists, furious. Determination to escape pulsed through his veins, although his injuries had not been healed. He charged at the metal bars, shoulder first, and crashed into them, hurting his arm and not even scratching the bars. Still determined, he ran at them again, hurting his arm even more. Just before he charged again, a Biospark walked into the light shining from the medallion. Kirby seized his chance and took a deep breath of air, throwing the Biospark against the bars. He continued to inhale the Biospark until it broke through the metal bars and went right into Kirby's mouth. He swallowed it.

He began to glow, and his skin turned a shade of dark purple. A small sword materialized in his hand and a red samurai helmet, with a dark blue ponytail on the back and a star symbol on the front, appeared on his head. Kirby grinned, hit the medallion (and turned off the beam of light coming from it, although it still protected him from the fog anyways), and squeezed through the bars. He jumped onto a wall and gripped onto it like a ninja, waiting for something to appear.

Another Biospark walked into the room, and Kirby jumped from the wall and stabbed it in the head, killing it. He proceeded to grab the body and throw it into a cell, and then he walked toward the path the Biospark had come from. Quickly, he gripped onto the wall, the darkness camouflaging him. He jumped off the wall and grabbed onto another easily. Another Biospark walked into the stone hallway, and Kirby jumped at it and stabbed it before it could react. He proceeded to pick up it's body and carry it with him into the next hallway. A large group of Biosparks was guarding the hallway around the corner, but Kirby didn't need to go that way yet,

Kirby whistled, and the Biosparks looked around themselves for the source of the noise. He threw the Biospark body into the hallway around the corner, and he quickly jumped onto a wall near the hallway, and jumped off that wall and past the hallway onto another wall. The Biosparks ran into the room as Kirby prepared a few swords to throw at them. They walked around, getting closer and closer to him...

Kirby threw each of the swords at the Biosparks, killing them all one by one. He then jumped from the wall and continued down the hallway, reaching a fork in the "road". There were three different paths he could take... one of them was down the stairs in front of him.. they led to a large gold door with a padlock on it. There were also stairs to his right and left, both leading downwards, possibly into some kind of basement. He went down the stairs to his left carefully, listening for any kind of noise.

Something nearby coughed, and he quickly jumped onto the wall and held on there. A Biospark walked up the stairs, right past Kirby, who quickly jumped down past it and threw a sword into it's back. It fell to the ground and Kirby continued walking, reaching the basement. The first thing he saw was a maze of crates, the maze itself filled with Biosparks. Quickly, Kirby leaped onto one of the crates. He waited until the Biospark in front of him was facing the other way, and then he pulled out a sword and threw it while he flipped onto another crate. He walked down this one carefully, but failed to notice a nearby Biospark turn the corner and see him. As if on cue, every Biospark in the room began to move towards Kirby.

Quickly, Kirby somersaulted onto another crate, closely followed by the small army of Biospark. The Biosparks threw their swords at him, puncturing his skin and knocking him off of the crate. The Biosparks jumped onto the crate as well and jumped towards Kirby, who threw a sword into one and rolled away. The Biosparks leaped at him and Kirby jumped up, grabbed one by it's clothing and jumped fifty feet into the air, then came back down, enemy first, in an enormous seismic toss. Kirby leaped backwards after finishing this attack, and then cut through some of the crates with his sword. The Biosparks gave chase, doing the same, throwing their swords and leaping in all directions. Kirby flipped over a crate and the swords ran into the crate instead, and Kirby continued running. A Biospark leaped at him and pinned him to the ground as he turned the corner, and Kirby wrestled him into a crate and stabbed him in between the eyes with a sword.

He turned another corner, finally reaching the end of the maze, but the door was locked. As the Biosparks got closer, Kirby used his sword and his ability to pick the lock...he managed to do this just before they reached him, and he ran through the doors at the last second, closing them behind him.

Kirby couldn't see in front of him, and didn't want to give himself away by turning the medallion's light on, so he simply kept on walking. As soon as he took a step forward, he heard something moving and bright lights flashed on. He discovered he was in a stadium, surrounded by metal bars. On the other side was Bow Fighter, a huge, strange-looking demon. It was very large, had a dog's face, which was attached to a pair of feet (no legs, and no torso), and it has no arms, just ears that it used like arms, to throw it's enemies around and punch them into dust.

There was a loud ringing, and Kirby began to glow. At first, he had no idea what was going on, until he realized something was changing the ability he had. A bandanna appeared around his forehead and his ninja hat vanished. Kirby's skin turned pink again, and Kirby realized that he was now wielding the Fighter ability. Kirby got ready as Bow immediately charged at him, preparing an energy ball in it's ears/arms. Kirby held his ground, and prepared his own energy ball. Kirby fired it first, but Bow jumped into the air and landed on Kirby, sending him flying. Bow fired it's energy ball at Kirby, knocking him against the metal bars again. Bow then charged at Kirby and grabbed him with it's ears/arms, throwing him into the air and smashing him with it's arms like a cymbal.

Kirby was incredibly shaken and dizzy from this onslaught, but he got ready again as Bow jumped high into the air and tried to crush Kirby again. Kirby began to charge a beam, and then rolled away from Bow and fired the beam at it. Bow winced slightly, shook itself, and charged at Kirby again, ears flapping. Kirby jumped over Bow and began to charge another beam. Bow leaped onto the metal and came back down at Kirby, who attempted to roll out of the way. Bow missed again, but the shockwaves from Bow's weight sent him flying anyways. Kirby was thrown against the metal bars, and as he fell down, Bow grabbed him with it's ears and threw him back against the bars. As Kirby fell again, Bow unleashed a powerful punch which blasted Kirby through the bars of the cage and into a nearby wall. Blood began to flow again from the wounds on Kirby's back, but he stood up and fired a small blast of energy at Bow, who was beginning to bend the cage bars. The blast hit Bow in the face, and Kirby weakly began to walk closer and closer to it. Bow shattered the cage bars and ran at Kirby, who closed his eyes.

As soon as Bow was a foot in front of him, Kirby grabbed it by it's ears and threw it onto the floor. Just as it got up, he then jumped into the air and spun at it with his feet, kicking it over and over in the face. Bow punched Kirby, throwing him against a wall, which Kirby quickly bounced off of, jumping higher and higher into the air. He then flew down at Bow, spinning around wildly, feet first. He drill-kicked Bow over and over rapidly, then he grabbed Bow and threw it into the air, firing blast after blast of energy balls at it.

Bow came back down, and Kirby prepared a punch, ready to strike. Bow came just a foot away from crushing Kirby when Kirby released a powerful uppercut, throwing it into the air. Kirby jumped onto the wall, then jumped off it at Bow, preparing another punch. He reached Bow, and hit him with everything he had knocking him into the cage bars. As Bow fell, Kirby fired more blasts at it and then landed on the ground. Bow suddenly jumped to it's feet and body slammed Kirby, throwing him against a wall. Bow rushed at Kirby, unleashing punch after punch at Kirby, until Bow's very hands started to bleed. Bow didn't grow tired, but Kirby eventually fell to the ground, his face covered with the marks of a thousand punches. Blood trickled from his eyes, which were now covered in black and blue marks, like tears.

Bow prepared to deliver another punch, but Kirby got to his feet and unleashed an uppercut at Bow, knocking him into the sky. Kirby began to charge a blast as Bow landed on the ground and flipped to it's feet. Bow charged at Kirby again, and Kirby unleashed the blast.

The blast smashed into Bow, sending it flying back into the cage and against the bars on the other side. Kirby walked over to the bars, and bent them back into shape, trapping Bow. Kirby then walked to the other side of the stadium, leaned against the wall, and took deep breaths. Blood trickled down his many wounds, some of them barely healed, others now fresh. He had to press onwards though, so he ripped the padlock from the door and opened it, continuing onwards.

------------------------------

Later...

"Sixty more hours..." Kirby thought, as he walked through the mazelike hallways, trying to find the entrance again. He had already killed all the guards with relative ease, and their bodies were a crude way to find out where he had already been. Eventually, he found a large door and opened it, revealing the hallway he had started at. He walked down it, reached the fork in the "road", and went down the stairs in front of him. He proceeded to break down the door with the Fighter ability. Kirby entered what looked like an enormous dining room, with ten large tables which were decorated with empty plates and spider webs. Kirby turned on the medallion to look around, and the first thing he noticed was a person on the other side of the room, carrying two enormous frying pans like swords. The person turned around, revealing himself to be Kawasaki.

"It's DINNER TIME!" Kawasaki screamed in an unusually deep voice as he charged at Kirby with his frying pans.


	13. PART 12: Kawasaki

**PART 12: Kawasaki**

Kirby, caught off guard by the unexpected appearance of Kawasaki, didn't have enough time to guard as Kawasaki smashed him in between his dual frying pans. Kirby cried out as the pans, somehow incredibly hot, burned the skin on his arms. Kawasaki struck at Kirby again and again with his frying pans, blood flying every which way with every blow. Kirby tried to stand again and attempted to deliver a punch, but Kawasaki knocked him out of the way with one of the pans, sizzling Kirby's skin and sending him flying into a table.

Spiders scurried away as Kirby rolled away from Kawasaki leaped onto the table with a crash. Kawasaki charged at Kirby, swinging his double frying pans. Kirby rolled under the pans and delivered a powerful uppercut at Kawasaki, who quickly blocked with one of his pans, and smashed Kirby with the other. There was another sizzling sound as Kirby was sent flying into another table.

Kirby's vision became disorientated... he could see three of everything, including three Kawasakis. Kirby jumped at one of the Kawasakis, swinging his fists. Suddenly, the real Kawasaki smacked Kirby with his frying pans, knocking him against another wall. Kirby grabbed onto this wall by reflex, and jumped at Kawasaki, who smashed Kirby in between his frying pans and held him there.

There was a sizzling sound and smoke began to come from inbetween the pans. Kirby could feel the skin on his arms parting as the heat from the pans burned through his flesh...he desperately struggled to escape, and eventually squeezed free of the pans and fell to the ground, the flesh on his arms ripped, burned, and smoking. Kirby's sight became more disorientated...he now saw five Kawasakis, and he couldn't move his arms to fight back. The real Kawasaki swung at him again, burning the side of Kirby's face and sending him flying into a wall. Kirby fell to the ground again, unable to stand back up. Kawasaki leaped at him with both pans out, ready to strike. Desperately, Kirby rolled away from Kawasaki as he landed and Kawasaki swung his pans at Kirby in a rush. Desperately, Kirby tried to roll away again, but Kawasaki was moving faster than he was and Kirby couldn't use his arms to stop his attacks.

As Kawasaki smashed Kirby with both his frying pans, something fell from behind the medallion. It was the doll of him Tiff had made... As both it and Kirby lay on the ground, Kirby noticed it in more detail than before... it had been roughly sewn together in a way that made it resemble Frankenstien. The stitches could be seen on it in that fashion. It's facial expression was interesting... made of black buttons, the expression was a smile that could only be described as sad joy. The different pieces of it, seperated by the stitches, were of different shades of pink. Regardless of all this, this was Kirby's greatest treasure....worth even more to him than his own life. Ignoring the burns on his arms, Kirby reached for it weakly.

Kawasaki appeared over him and stepped on the doll. Kirby watched from on the stone floor as one of the buttons rolled out from under Kawasaki's foot and spun around in a circle, eventually stopping at Kirby's face. Kirby stared at it for a few moments, his expression completely blank. Kawasaki lifted his pan to strike Kirby, but Kirby paid no attention, but instead he stared at the button blankly.

Kawasaki swung his pans at Kirby, but his attacks were quickly halted....Kawasaki stared in shock...the pans had frozen in midair, and now stood, floating, three inches from Kirby's head. Kirby hadn't moved an inch. As Kawasaki stared, Kirby suddenly began to move again. Keeping his face down, Kirby rose to his feet, inch by inch...the process felt like it was taking hours.

As soon as Kirby was on his feet, he looked at Kawasaki in the eye, and Kawasaki looked back. The medallion around Kirby's neck had turned a shade of pure white, and Kawasaki could see something in Kirby's eyes that he couldn't quite make out....

Suddenly, it hit him. Kirby was glaring at him like Meta Knight, his face contorted with utter, supressed fury. Kirby did not make a sound, but Kawasaki could swear he could feel the rage radiating from Kirby's body.

"No more nightmares." Kirby said, his voice both menacing and calm at the same time. "No more tears. No more worries." Kirby grabbed Kawasaki with one arm and lifted him high into the air like Kawasaki was nothing.

"No more _fears_." he said, his voice now more menacing and more calm than ever. Kirby slammed into Kawasaki with his fists over and over again, rapidly across his enemy's face.

"You betrayed us. You tried to kill me." Kirby snarled as he smacked Kawasaki around like a punching bag. "YOU DESTROYED THE LAST THING I HAD LEFT!"

Kirby had only felt this way one before....and his feelings were filled with rage...pure, unsupressed rage...he had felt the same thing when he had presumed Meta Knight as dead, something he had presumed quickly. He had always been optimistic, but now...he was beginning to find trusting anyone impossible. Kawasaki cringed as Kirby lifted his fist, ready to finish him off. Kirby swung.

"No. I am better than you." Kirby said calmly, stopping an inch from Kawasaki's face. He threw Kawasaki to the ground and stared at him menacingly. "Leave now." Kawasaki stared at Kirby for a few moments, and then glared at him.

Kawasaki pulled out both pans and jumped at Kirby, ready to strike again. There was a loud "whoosh" as Kawasaki swung, followed by an "CLANG" as Kirby grabbed them both at the same time and threw one of them back at Kawasaki.

"I am as calm and collected as the very grass." Kirby said, his eyes closed and his voice once again menacing but calm. "You can not defeat me." Kirby held the other pan in his hand and opened his eyes, glaring at Kawasaki. Kawasaki ran at Kirby, screaming, and there was the sound of metal hitting metal as Kirby deflected Kawasaki's blows with the other pan.

"Give up, traitor." Kirby said, now fully menacing. Kawasaki backed off as Kirby held the pan in his hands without wincing, which meant that either Kirby had suddenly become invulnerable or he was simply ignoring it. Either way, that was enough for Kawasaki, who immediately bolted out of the room, yelling something as he ran.

The medallion on Kirby's waist turned a normal color, and Kirby's hand began to smoke. Quickly, Kirby threw the pan to the ground and walked over to the other side of the ancient dining room. Tiff's doll of him was laying flat on the ground, a few buttons missing from it's face and it's arm missing from it's body. Quietly, Kirby picked up the pieces.

He was interrupted by the noise of thousands of small feet moving towards him. Quickly, Kirby placed the pieces of the doll on the ground just as hundreds of Waddle Doos, like Waddle Dees but with one eye, which they could shoot beam attacks out of, and Biosparks, who Kirby had already faced. Quickly, Kirby prepared to fight, realizing the frying pan was on the other side of the room.

As the Waddle Doos jumped toward the cieling and swung above him, using thier beams like grappling hooks, and the Biosparks threw thier small swords, Kirby grabbed onto the legs of one of the swinging Waddle Doos. He flipped off of there like an acrobat, knocking another Waddle out of the air in the process. Quickly, Kirby landed, inhaled, and swallowed a Waddle Doo, and after a few seconds, he transformed into Beam Kirby, now with a colorful jester's hat on his head.

Two beams appeared from Kirby's hands and Kirby sent the attack at another Waddle Doo. It grabbed him like a grappling hook, and Kirby turned around, throwing the Waddle Doo and the beam into another Waddle Doo, destroying them both. Kirby rolled around another Waddle Doo, grabbed it, and threw it at some approaching Biosparks. Kirby created another beam and grappled to the cieling, swinging along the beam like it was a vine right into another Waddle Doo. The Waddle Doo he hit landed on some of the others, and Kirby dropped from the ground and sliced them with another beam. A Biospark grabbed him and threw him at the cieling, and Kirby quickly shot a beam upwards. Then, he fired another beam at the ground, and it attached to it. Kirby let go of the beam holding him to the cieling, and he fell to the ground. Quickly, Kirby ran at the walls, using the beam as a support, began to walk around them as if defying gravity. The beam spun with him, slicing apart enemies as he ran. He fired another beam at the cieling and pulled the one on the floor back toward him. Kirby grappled to the cieling and fired another beam nearby him. Using this, he bounced towards the ground like a bungee jumper, and as soon as he landed on the ground, he held himself and the beams in place. Everything jumped at him as he bounced back towards the cieling again, and they all fell into an enormous piles. Kirby retracted both beams and landed on the pile. Skillfully, he rolled around two Waddle Doos and a table, blasted a Biospark with a beam, and grabbed the pan off the ground.

He threw his hat to the ground and his beam ability disappeared with it. Kirby inhaled the pan and swallowed it. After a few seconds, he transformed into Cook Kirby, chef hat and all. As the piles of enemies and the rest of the enemies got to thier feet and jumped at Kirby, there was a flash of light, and an enormous cooking pot materialized out of thin air. Every enemy froze into a form of suspended animation, unaffected by gravity and completely unmoving. Kirby climbed to the top of the golden cooking pot, brought out two pans, and smacked them together in a "Dinner's Ready" fashion. The water in the pot began to stir around immediately, and soon, every enemy in sight flew into it as if being sucked into a black hole.

The pot could carry as much as it needed, and would instantly change every enemy in front of it's user into nutritious, health-restoring food. After it was used, it would vanish completely, and the ability would be lost.

When the last enemy was sucked into the enormous cooking pot, Kirby materialized a spoon out of nowhere and began to stir the contents. The pot began to bubble suddenly, and Kirby watched as it spit out tons of food, of all types, shapes and sizes. Kirby smiled as the pot vanished completely, it's work done. The chef's hat vanished with it.

Kirby laid the food on a table and walked into a nearby room, which turned out to be a kitchen. Clearing spider webs out of the way, he came across a small closet. Opening it (and releasing a ton of dust in the process, which caused Kirby to sneeze), he found a broom. He pulled it from inside the closet (accidently destroying a spider web in the process, which made Kirby sad, so he apoligized to the spider), and as soon as he touched it, a flowery apron appeared around his waist. Kirby smiled and walked back into the dining room, which he began to dust off.

It didn't take him long, for soon, the tables and floor were clear of spider webs. Satisfied, Kirby picked up the pieces of the doll again and sat on the table. He sat in front of the food, and began to eat the spoils of his victory.

And he had a long way to go, and so little time to go there.


	14. PART 13: Soul of a Star Warrior

**PART 13: Soul of a Star Warrior**

_I stand alone.  
__All by myself.  
__I don't cry when people die,  
__I keep on moving.  
__Sometimes, you just can't stop...to...cry.  
__You have to press on,  
__You have to finish what you started,  
__Sometimes you just. Can't. Stop._

"Sometimes, I wonder who I am. Who made me? What did they make me for? Was I made? Do I have parents?"

_Sometimes, you find it hard to think.  
__Sometimes, you find it hard to breathe.  
__Sometimes, you want to stop.  
__And you want to cry._

"How long will I live? How long will my friends live? Will I continue living years after thier deaths?"

_Sometimes, your thoughts take over.  
__Sometimes, death is all you want.  
__But you just have to press onwards...  
__You have to press onwards...  
__Even though all you have left...  
__Is all you've got._

"What happens when you die? Where do you go? Do you go anywhere?"

_Because you gotta keep on going,  
__When all hope fades away.  
__You gotta keep on moving,  
__No matter what they say,  
__Because when all hope has faded,  
__When your world is covered in fog,  
__When you're blind and deaf at the same time...  
__You still have to keep on going,  
__Or waste your life. And stop._

"What happens if I win though? This world will still be the same. People will still die and still fight....my friends will still be gone. And there still won't be anything left."

_You can't let hope slip away,  
__Like a dove within your hands.  
__You can't let it fly away from you,  
__Or you'll sink within the sands._

"These questions...so many of them. So little answers. So little hope."

_Sometimes, you'll question your purpose.  
__Sometimes, you'll miss your friends.  
__But even when society ignores you...  
__Even when all hope is lost...  
__You still gotta carry on._

"Is there such thing as Heaven?"

_Sometimes, you'll lose all faith.  
__Sometimes, you'll lose all hope.  
__Sometimes, you'll lose everything.  
__But you gotta continue moving,  
__For it's pointless just to stop._

"So much pain. So much death. So much loss. How can I, a mere child, bear it all on my shoulders?"

_When all hope fades away.  
__You gotta keep on moving,  
__No matter what they say.  
__Because when all hope has faded,  
__When your world is covered in fog,  
__When you're blind and deaf at the same time...  
__You still have to keep on going,  
__Or waste your life. And stop.  
__Sometimes, you'll miss the simple joys of life.  
__Sometimes, you'll miss the sunshine.  
__Sometimes, you'll wish that the rain would go away,  
__Sometimes you'll wish to love again.  
__Sometimes. It's hard to. Stay alive.  
__Knowing. How few are.  
__Sometimes. It's hard to. Stay alive.  
__Knowing. How. Much you've lost.  
__For then it's hard to live and love,  
__Then it's hard to love and live,  
__It's hard to stay awake,  
__It's hard to fall asleep,  
__It's hard to fight the cold.  
__It's hard to stop the burning,  
__It's hard not. To. Cry again.  
__It's hard not. To. Cry again.  
__It's hard not. To. Cry again._

--------------

Kirby swallowed an apple, and winced slightly as a scar below his right eye started to stitch itself back together. In under five seconds, the wound was healed.

"This medallion...what does it mean? Does it try to tell me something? What are it's powers?"

Now eating a leg of chicken, a gash on Kirby's back began to disappear quickly, the process of healing sped up greatly.

"I've heard of a thing called true love...what is it? For me, is it possible? Is there any others like me?"

Now swallowing an enormous piece of cake, a few scars on his arms vanished in seconds. On reflex, he shook his arm around.

Good as new.

"The smallest of treasures can be the hardest things to piece back together. But, in the eyes of the beholder, the smallest treasures are worth much more."

He swallowed a tomato with a red M on it, and in an enormous flash, all of Kirby's wounds vanished as if they were never there.

"There is a kind of wound that never heals. That wound will hurt forever."

As soon as he had finished, he picked up the pieces of the doll and walked out of the ancient dining room, the sounds of his footsteps swallowed by the dust that hadn't cleared. He walked through the old hallways, past large suits of armor and under ancient chandaliers. He walked past the arch shapes in the walls, dust flying up around his feet. As he breathed, he could see it appear in the air.

For it was freezing cold. The sounds of a blizzard seemed to come from the very walls, and it was the only noise around him, surrounding him in stereo. It was steadily getting louder. Shivering, Kirby hugged himself to keep warm and walked onwards. As he continued to walk, the medallion began to shake around wildly, as if magnetically attracted to something.

The medallion began to float in the air, still around Kirby's waist, and began to pull Kirby forward. Kirby didn't bother struggling, but he held his ground.

It turrned quite a few corners, rushing past more ancient statues and suits of armor. Eventually, it stopped in front of an enormous silver door, with a picture of a lion's head adorning the front of it and two enormous suits of armor next to it. The suits of armor were over fifty feet tall, about as large as the door in fact, and carried swords twice that size. The hallway he was standing in and the door were enormous.

The medallion stopped floating and fell back against Kirby's waist as the enormous silver door started to creek open, slowly revealing an enormous balcony, which was covered in snow. Kirby could see the fog floating outside the balcony, as if the entire balcony was protected. As the door stopped, Kirby slowly walked through it and onto the balcony. The snow crunched under his feet, and it was very cold. Kirby held his arms again and shivered.

A visible breeze of wind blew across the edge of the balcony and turned into a fine, transparent, blue mist. The mist began to gather at the balconies edge and spin around slowly like a small cyclone. The mist did this until it began to take the form of something.

The form of the fairy he had seen before appeared, now made out of the transparent blue mist. It was not facing him, and was looking over the balcony as if there was something there. Everything was suddenly silent. No crunching of snow. No sounds of a blizzard. No sounds at all. Just silence.

The small fairy turned around. Her eyes were a solid transparent blue, without any pupils at all. Slightly frightened, Kirby backed away.

"Why do you run from me?" whispered a soft voice that sounded like the very wind itself. Kirby looked around frantically. He didn't see the fairy speak, but she was the only other thing around. Kirby backed off even further.

"Why are you so afraid of a spirit?" whispered the voice. "There is no reason for you to be afraid." Kirby still didn't see the fairy move at all, but he didn't back away.

"Do not run, Kirby. Come closer." whispered the voice. Slowly, Kirby walked closer until he was right in front of the strange spirit.

"Yes, Kirby. Now..." it continued. Kirby stared at it for a few seconds.

"LET ME LOOK INTO YOUR SOUL!" roared the strange voice, now incredibly deep and menacing. The door behind him slammed shut as the fairy's eyes turned a dark shade of red, as the mist it was made out of turned into a dark black fog, as enormous transparent tentacles burst from it's back, as it transformed into a vaguely humanoid mutant...made out of the black fog. Before Kirby could react, the mutant fog creature grabbed it in it's enormous tentacles and opened an enormous mouth, revealing transparent, dripping, blood-red fangs.

Icy, bone-chilling laughter broke through the silence and echoed in Kirby's mind just as the demon vanished, as quickly as it had come. Kirby fell to the ground and hit the cold snow with a crunch, his eyes wide in horror and the image of the demon engraved upon his thoughts.


	15. PART 14: Cold as Hell

**PART 14: Cold as Hell**

Kirby knocked on the door with his fists desperately, determined to escape. There was a hollow sound as he hit them, but the doors did not budge. Desperately, he continued to hit it with his fists, hoping to make it open.

There was an enormous cracking sound, and Kirby fell off his feet, losing his balance. Kirby looked around for the source of the noise and there was another cracking sound just behind him.

There wasn't any time to react. With one final creek, the balcony split apart from the castle and started to topple toward the ground.

--------------

Inside the enormous silver ship, the long needed funeral was about to take place in the dining room, a huge, circular, carpetless silver room that had been cleared out for the funeral. Leading the funeral and walking to the front of the room was Chief Bookum, dressed in a black suit.

There wasn't any music. There wasn't any coffins. Just an otherwise empty room filled with men, women, and children. All of them were dressed in black, the color of mourning. There weren't any photographs, and there wasn't any noise from anyone.

As soon as Bookum reached the other side of the room, he pulled out a electronic microphone and hit the switch. He began to speak into it in a loud voice.

"We are gathered in this room today to mourn the losses of Mabel, Samo, and Tiff. All three are respected members of the community and one of them is only a child..."

Before he could continue, Bookum started to cough. He held one hand over his mouth as he did so, and a dark red liquid dripped down his face. Coughing without ceasing, he put a hand to his chest as his breathing began to become labored. He staggered backwards, fell to his knees, and collapsed onto the ground, face-first.

Everyone watched this in shock, metaphorically frozen to the ground. Nobody moved an inch from where they stood, and children clinged to thier parents. Behind all of them, the doors to the dining room slammed shut.

Before anyone could react, twenty random men in the room pulled out double-barrel shotguns, cocked them, and aimed them at different people in the room. These men were wearing all black, had large black boots and gloves, and thier faces seemed to be shrouded in darkness, so you couldn't make out who they were.

One of the largest men grabbed a small girl nearby him by her neck and lifted her off the ground, holding the shotgun against the side of her head.

"Pop quiz." said the man in an icy voice. "First of all, where's Dedede? Get the question right and I'll ask another. Get either one wrong and I'll blow this fucking kid's brains to Ripple Star."

"In his escape ship, past the huge silver doors in the east wing." a child answered quickly.

"Very good." the man responded coldly, slowly pulling the shotgun away from the girl. Before you could blink, he turned the shotgun at the boy who had spoken and fired, making people jump backwards as the kid flew into a wall and slumped down onto the ground, killed instantly. The man with the shotgun smiled sadistically.

"Now..." he continued icily, facing the other people and pulling his shotgun back against the girl's head. "How much money is on this ship and where can I find it all? Answer me that correctly and I'll give this little one back to her mommy." To show the effect, he pinched the girl's cheek and smiled cruelly, his mouth the only thing visible behind the strange darkness surrounding his face.

"It's in Dedede's ship...in the vault..please, give me my child back." cried a middle-aged woman in the background, as the man with the gun reloaded it.

"Thank you ever so much for your cooperation." the man said icily. He looked at the little girl. "Now, now, my sweet little pawn..." he said. "It's time to go back to...mommy..."

With the quickness of a hawk, the man turned the gun towards the woman, fired, reloaded, fired, reloaded, and fired again, all in under half a minute. The woman staggered, holding her neck as blood poured from it like wine from an open bottle, pouring onto the ground as every part of it was covered in it, and she fell to her knees and collapsed onto the ground.

Both the girl and another, very muscular man watched in horror, and the man ran towards the woman's side and felt the side of her neck with his hand. The man looked suddenly infuriated, and he pushed everyone else out of the way and charged towards the man, the one with the gun, shoulder-first, ready to rip him apart with his bare hands. The gun-wielding man watched him idly, and as soon as the muscular man was a foot away from him, he threw the girl high into the air, aimed his shotgun at the other man, and fired. The muscular man was so close to the gun that the shots completely destroyed his chest, killing him instantly. He slumped to the ground and fell at the man's feet.

The girl fell toward the ground, and the man caught her by her neck again, reloaded the gun, and held it to her head. The girl continued to cry loudly, flailing around uslessly, tears rolling down her cheeks. An icy annoyance could be seen on the man's shadowy face, but the annoyance was almost fake, as if the girl's crying was an excuse for him to kill something.

"STOP CRYING, YOU LITTLE BRAT, BEFORE I BLOW YOUR FUCKING BRAINS ACROSS THIS ROOM!" he roared into the girl's face. "I SWEAR IF YOU DON'T SHUT UP, I'LL GIVE YOU SOMETHING TO CRY ABOUT!"

The girl continued to cry, now even louder than before.

"THAT'S IT! TIME FOR A LITTLE TARGET PRACTICE!" the man roared, throwing the girl into the air and cocking his gun.

The sound of a gun being fired rang through the air a second later.

-----------------------

A few hours later, the balcony lay on the ground in ruins, reduced to enormous piles of rubble. Kirby was nowhere to be seen, yet the fog avoided the pile of rubble completely.

A few minutes later, the rubble, now buried in over ten feet of snow, began to shake, slowly splitting the layer of snow above it with it.

As it cracked, a tiny and half-frozen blue hand burst through it and grabbed onto the layer of snow above it, and a small, round, blue body began to slowly climb onto the layer of snow, which was steadily getting higher.

----------------------

At the words "Target Practice", there were the sounds of guns being fired, screaming, bullets richoteting off the walls, and bodies landing on the ground with a thump. Save the steady dripping of what was obviously blood, everything was silent again.

The previously silver walls were covered in blood as if someone had thrown paint onto them like a mischevious child. Shotguns, some bent, lay on the ground, surrounded by bodies and leftover bullets.

It could be estimated that over five hundred people or more had entered the dining room for the funeral. It could also be estimated that over four hundred of those people were now dead. And it was fact that everyone who had not come to the funeral did not know what had happened there.

The girl, named Honey, was the only one completely unharmed. Her only scars were mental ones, for she had just witness over four hundred people, including her mother and father, both dying right in front of her.

It was unliklely that the scars that had been left would ever heal, and the consoling of a few other survivors ceased to reach her ears.

---------------------

Shivering and half-frozen, Kirby weakly climbed on top of the layer of snow. He had swallowed some of the snow and transformed into Ice Kirby, which turned his skin blue and created a tierra with a shining glacier on his head. Blood dripped from a large scar made by the collapsing balcony, the scar just under the side of his head. Otherwise, he wasn't wounded, but he was still cold, weak, and tired, and he still only had about fifty-seven more hours to go, which meant that fifteen hours had passed since he had started. He had less than two and a half days to stop the Black Fog.

Knowing he still needed to continue, he didn't stop to take a breath. He trudged through the snow quietly, pulling himself back up whenever he found himself sinking into it too deep. The snow was luckily stable, but if he didn't keep on climbing, he'd be stuck, and the snow was still piling around him, getting ever deeper as if it was attempting to bury him alive.

But he pressed onwards.

---------------------

Enormous banging on the dining room doors startled the remaining survivors, except for Honey, who stood there quietly, the images looping through her mind like a broken video player. As soon as the man had cocked his gun, every person, small or large, jumped on top of the man and pinned him. Another shadowy man fired at the group and hit the first man on accident. All out war broke loose. People attacked with fists, feet, or guns, doing whatever they could to stop the strange shadowy men and stay alive in the process.

Shots were fired, people died, and she was falling toward the ground. Another boy her age in the crowd with spiky hair managed to catch her as she fell, but he was shot in the back by a stray bullet. He fell to the ground, and she rolled out of his hands into a wall. One of the shadowy men fired at her, but someone pulled his gun away from him and the bullets hit the wall and bounced off it, only feet away from her.

She tried to stop thinking about it, but how could she? The images of her mother being hit three times and her father getting ripped to shreds only feet away from her were images that don't go away...ever. They leave permanent scars. She noticed someone motioning toward her and saying something, but no words came out of his mouth. She was lost in thoughts that wouldn't go away, and she didn't hear the other person's words. Desperate to awake from this nightmare, she closed her eyes and did quite the opposite.

She passed out.

----------------------

Kirby had spent the last hour trudging through the snow. The doll was gone, the medallion was still there, and the castle was still a huge object on the horizon behind him. He had reached the top of a bunch of cliffs, which were now buried in snow. The snow was not high enough to bury these cliffs, and the snow was only knee deep now.

As he walked past the side of the cliff, a face burst through the fog. A face with a bushy blue mustache, walrus tusks, and a light blue complexion. This was followed by an enormous walrus body wearing blue overalls, and the body was twice as wide as it was tall, and the walrus himself was already twice as tall as Kirby. Kirby got in a fighting stance.

"Frosty." he muttered as three knights the same size as him appeared. They looked like walking golden helmets like the ones you'd find on suits of armor. A golden visor covered thier faces, red gloves covered thier hands, silver shoes covered thier feet, and there was a throwable cutter boomerange lodged in a slot in the helmets. This boomerang was thier weapon of choice. They all went by one name... Sir Kibble.

"Whassa matta, Kirby? Don't got anything to say?" Frosty asked in a wierd and incredibly fake accent. Kirby got slightly angry at his comment.

"I knew it, Kirby, you don't got nothing. And without Meta Knight around, you don't gotta chance against me, either." Frosty smirked.

"Why don't you shut up, drop the accent, and get the hell out of my way?" Kirby retorted icily. Frosty got angry himself, jumped around a bit with his mouth open, and held the side of his head with his hands as if he was getting a migraine.

"ATTACK!" Frosty ordered. The response was instant. Three small, round, armless blue creatures about Kirby's size burst from the fog, smiled menacingly, showing thier fangs, and began to roll at Kirby like bowling balls. The Sir Kibbles jumped onto the cliff above, two of them landing and throwing thier boomerangs, the other one jumping again and pulling his out. Frosty watched idly in the background, and felt a sudden icy chill, as if something was watching him.


	16. PART 15: Cold as Hell II

**PART 15: Cold as Hell (Continued)**

Stairs. Nothing but stairs. All in front of her, seeming to go up forever and ever and ever. The room she was in was filled with light, and the stairs were made of crystals. She began to walk up the stairs, and a pair of hands lifted her off the ground by her arms and began to carry her. Her parents, on both sides of her.

Images of her happiest memories flashed by, the her in the dream getting older with every step she was carried. Eventually, the walking ceased and the stairs reached a landing. The hands vanished, replaced by the sinister grip of the man from earlier and the rough smell of gunpowder as the gun was pushed against the side of her head.

The arms threw her across the landing, and she fell into a deep, dark, bottomless pit as the images of her parents dying flashed into her mind...

------------------

Kirby exhaled an enormous cloud of blue flame-like mist that engulfed the two boomerangs, freezing them solid. He spun around and kicked the frozen cubes that sealed the boomerangs at Frosty, who opened his huge mouth and spit them back out at Kirby, who had just been knocked over by the two blue creatures. The ice cubes turned Kirby into an enormous glacier on contact, and when the glacier exploded, shards of ice slashed Kirby's skin open, spilling blood onto the snow.

Kirby quickly hopped to his feet and was hit in the back of the head by a cutter boomerang, which lodged itself into his skull. Kirby cried out as the ultra sharp boomerang began to lodge itself deeper and deeper into his head. Frosty stopped watching idly, and instead stared at Kirby in his pain, grinning confidently.

"That's enough! Kirby's mine to kill, and nobody elses." Frosty ordered as he walked over to Kirby and bent down to the point where he was breathing into Kirby's face, his beady black nose almost pressing against Kirby, and his icy breath covering Kirby in a solid mist.

"If you can't beat my minions, how do you expect to beat me?" Frosty said in perfect english, his real accent only slightly artic and his icy breath making Kirby wince. The pain in Kirby's skull had brought Kirby to his knees now, and he stared back into Frosty's eyes in rage. The heat that seemed to boil from thier eyes could have melted the snow if it was any more powerful.

"It's pointless. Everything that can stand against you does. If you win, things will be like before, only there won't be anyone to support you and set things right when everyone believes in you. And everything is dead. The balance of nature has been shattered. Without the sun's rays, everything is colder than my very breath. And when it tries to rain, the cold makes it become snow. And with the Black Fog, everything withers and dies in seconds. Buildings turn to dust, mountains crumble...everything becomes a wasteland." Frosty explained.

Kirby didn't bother to listen. Instead, he puffed himself up like an enormous balloon and the boomerang was launched out of his skull. It flew backwards towards it's thrower at such a speed that the Sir Kibble was sliced in half and thrown off the cliff. Frosty did not pay attention. Instead, he jumped away from Kirby as gracefully as a cat and landed on the snow twenty feet away silently. Frosty lifted both his arms into the air and snowballs formed and spun around him in a steady blur.

"Kiss my ass, Kirby." he said, turning around and showing just that from an unconveniently placed hole in the back of his overalls. The snowballs combined into an enormous boulder made of solid ice, which began to roll towards Kirby at the speed of a small jet.

--------------------

Honey awoke in a sweat, surrounded by a very rapid beeping noise. She looked around her. Nothing but solid darkness, but there was something on her face...that something was pulled off by a pair of hands, and she discovered she was on a bed in a silver room. Standing nearby her was an odd old man with a white mustache and thick glasses that you couldn't see his eyes behind. She had strange objects placed against her head, and the beeping noise came from a computer with a moving green line going up and down at a quick rate on the screen.

"At last, you have woken up again. You were in such a deep slumber that I swore you had knocked yourself into a coma." the old man commented, feeling her forehead. "Are you feeling alright?"

"I'm...OK..." she murmured, still slightly shaken.

"I don't think you are..." he whispered slowly, taking his hand off her head. "Not yet. But there's somebody who wants to see you." He pressed a button nearby the door at the end of the room and the door slid open. A man walked in, staring at her sadly. The man was tall, well-built, and was wearing all black, including black boots, gloves, shades, and a vest. The image of the shadowy man flashed before Honey's mind, and her eyes opened wide. The old man had tooken this moment to leave the room, and the doors slid shut behind him.

The man bent down towards her and and began to speak softly and kindly.

"I'm sorry..." he apoligized, reaching into his vest. He pulled out a blob of dark, shadowy mist and held in his fists. He then clapped his fists together, releasing more of the foggy blob onto his other hand. He threw that at the door, which sealed shut upon contact. He then removed his vest, revealing multiple gunshot wounds. Without wincing, he put his hands and the foggy mist into the gunshot wounds.

She began to squirm and flail wildly, until she realized that she was somehow pinned to the bed she lay on. The man pulled his hands from the wound, and no blood spilled anywhere. The foggy stuff was gone and his gloves had no blood on them. His eyes had turned blood red from behind the shades.

"...But your time is up." he whispered, placing his lips against Honey's own. She flailed and squirmed wildly, the man's lips locked against her own as he let out a long steady breath with a loud hissing sound. She squirmed even more as something seemed slid down her throat as easily as drops of water. She flailed wilder than ever, the beeping of the computer nearby getting faster and louder as she did so. She flailed again, the beeping noise repeating over and over more rapidly than could be possible, her muffled screaming filling the room.

Her flailing ceased. Her arms fell to the ground. She stopped screaming. The line stopped moving up and down and began to move in a straight line. Her mouth hung open, and a blob of foggy mist rose from it and opened a single red eye. In the center of the fog was a glowing light that illuminated the very walls. The eye glowed white and the man fell to his knees and died instantly. The fog flew out of the room silently.

--------------------

Kirby jumped to the right onto the rocks on the side of the cliff, and the boulder of ice narrowly missed him. Frosty screamed in rage and fired a four-foot tall ice cube at Kirby, which Kirby quickly kicked back towards Frosty with his foot. Frosty kicked it back at Kirby, who ducked immediately, and the ice cube fell off a cliff. Frosty jumped towards Kirby gracefully again, and Kirby slid underneath his attack. Frosty hit the rocks instead, which began to crack under his mass. Frosty materialized another snow boulder out of nowhere, jumping into the air and tossing it at Kirby, a hint of absolute madness on his face.

Kirby jumped away as the snow boulder exploded, hitting Kirby with chunks of ice which flew in all directions, hitting Frosty as well. Kirby ran towards Frosty, who jumped into the air again and prepared to crush him. Kirby rolled away as Frosty hit the ground, creating a massive shockwave which sent snow flying all around him. The snow hit Kirby in the face, getting in his eyes. He tried to get the snow out as Frosty threw another boulder at him, almost knocking him off the cliff.

Kirby was hit by the boulder, which exploded in his face, slashing his skin open with the blast. Blindly, Kirby walked right towards Frosty, who responded by punching him with his enormous fists. Kirby flew against the rocks with a crash and was buried with snow. Frosty created another snow boulder and tossed it at the fallen Kirby, who shook himself quickly and rolled away from the boulder. The ice from the explosions hit him again, and Frosty jumped onto the cliff Kirby was standing on. Slowly, Frosty walked towards him, his hands behind his back.

As soon as he reached him, he picked him up off the ground and shook him, so he could see his face clearly.

"Well, well...look who's laughing now." Frosty chuckled. Kirby stared at him icily.

"Me." Kirby said, as he took the tiara of glaciers off of his head and thrusted them into Frosty's face, puncturing it as the tiara vanished. Blood poured from Frosty's sockets, his eyeballs having been destroyed by the attack. Frosty was completely blind, and he screamed in absolute rage. The scream pierced the air like a lightning bolt, and there was an enormous shifting under thier feet.

Kirby laughed as Frosty and himself tumbled down the cliff, the rocks falling down in an avalanche Frosty had just accidently created.

--------------------

Everyone who had been at the funeral was waiting to find out what had happened to Honey, the little girl who had faced so much. The doors to the emergency hospital room, located at the southern end of the ship, swung open, and Dr. Yabui, the odd old man with the glasses, walked out of the room, carrying someone in his arms. A small girl with a pale, skeletal, wrinkled face, wide, blank eyes, bloodless lips, and tufts of hair missing.

"Believe it or not, the girl I hold in my hands is Honey. There is no trace of life in her." Dr. Yabui stated seriously. He looked like he was trying to find anything to say, but he had nothing. Slowly, he handed the girl to the other people.

"More than anyone else, you know what she needs more than I. Even beyond the grave." Dr. Yabui finished, walking off sadly.


	17. PART 16: Attack from the Inside

**PART 16: Attack from the Inside**

A tidal wave of snow. Flashes of red. An enormous supersonic crash. The whistling of the wind. The sounds of bones breaking. And the rumble of an avalanche passing over.

Those were the sounds that Kirby heard and the things that Kirby saw only seconds after the cliff collapsed. He waited for the avalanche to pass before he made a fruitless attempt to stand on his feet. Instead of standing, he flipped over onto the ground face-first. Slowly, he craned his head upwards just enough to look around.

Nothing. Just darkness. Just snow. Just a barren wasteland of death. His vision twitched and tilted constantly, always out of focus. He felt like his skull had been cracked open like an egg. The snow continued to whistle by him, and an eye watched him from the shadows.

Like the wounded soldier he had just become, he weakly crawled through the snow, leaving a trail of blood in it as he crawled forward with only his arms. His legs felt like they were at an incorrectable angle, but he moved onwards as quickly as his arms would carry him.

--------------------

The people placed Honey's body in a coffin, and this tiny coffin was placed inscription-side first into a graveyard room, filled with other coffins of the ones who had died. The shadowy men were not buried, though, since thier bodies were never found.

It was a few hours afterwards, scientifically 19 hours since the black fog had reached thier planet, when someone found something very strange in a storage closet. The person who had found it, a ten-year old boy who had been exploring the ship, had run from the closet screaming like a maniac, which in turn caused a few people to take a look inside the closet themselves. What followed this was unknown to every person in the ship. What followed was the most supernatural thing any of them had ever encountered.

To everyone who wasn't a foot away from the closet, the closet looked normal by the ship's standards. Filled with needed supplies and objects, silver sliding doors, plain with a single light. To everyone who was looking directly into the closet and was less than a foot away from it's interior, they saw paradise. Rainbows, water, cute and harmless creatures...it was like home again, and they stared at it in joy.

To anyone not looking directly into the closet and instead looking at the men, they saw the men's face contorted in horror as they backed away from the closet as if there was something utterly terrifying in it. What everyone outside the room saw was all the men run for thier lives, screaming.

But what the men saw was paradise. And most of the men were the remaining survivors from the funeral, and the missing and the dead were staring back at them in this paradise. It was impossible to believe, until one of the men's daughters, about nine years old, burst from the other side of the closet and embraced her father as if she was alive again. The man didn't know what to say. He was flabbergasted.

"We're looking at heaven, everyone. It seems to me our time has come." he stated, as he began to walk into the closet, hand-in-hand with his daughter, who had been shot by a misfire at the ambush in the funeral.

--------------------

Kirby began to sway side to side like an ocean liner. He fell to his side on the ground, only a few feet from where he had begun even after hours of desperate crawling. This time, he didn't get back up.

"I...I failed." he whispered, as he let his body fall limp to the ground, his blood flowing onto the snow. Tears rolled down his cheeks, and the medallion began to flicker slowly. With every flicker, the black fog would get closer and closer until it turned back on again, and the fog scattered. It began to stop glowing for longer and longer periods, the barrier around him becoming smaller and smaller...

In one final flash of white light, the medallion's light died, and the last light of hope in Pop Star flickered away.

--------------------

_"Impossible." muttered Ribbon, smashing her tiny fists onto the table. "You must be able to do something about this."_

_"I don't know. I don't see **YOU** coming up with any ideas, little fairy." said a light-skinned, muscular, crown-wearing, trident-holding male mermaid from the other side of the table. Ribbon sighed and spun her red hair around her tiny fingers, metaphorically rattling her brain for an idea._

_Nothing came._

_"You're right...I don't have an idea. But the Star Warrior is dying...You can't tell me you can't do anything to save him...can you?" Ribbon asked, dreading the answer._

_"You're wrong...we can do something about it..." answered a strange voice on the far end of the table. The speaker was not apparent, but was rather an enormous shining white void. At the answer, Ribbon sighed in relief._

_"...But we won't." the voice finished. Ribbon almost screamed, but she held her tongue inbetween her teeth and clenched her fists angrily._

_"Why? Why won't you?" she asked, trying her best to sound calm and collected. There was no answer for a few seconds._

_"Fate has decided it should be this way. We can not change the way fate works." The voice said nonchalantly. Ribbon slammed her fists onto the table again._

_"Traitor." she snarled. The voice did not respond, and she did not wait for it to say anything. She stormed out of the room, filled with anger and rage._

_As the doors to the temple slammed behind her, the "void" turned a shade of black, and a red eye opened in the center. The eye glared at the doors for a moment, and everyone else on the table did the same._

--------------------

Greeted by every dead friend and relative they had ever known, all the men's doubts of this paradise in the closet were removed. Hand-in-hand with dead friends and family, the men walked into the closet and into the paradise on the other side, as the door closed behind them.

Inside the closet, the portal to the paradise began to contract into itself, slowly becoming smaller and smaller until you could see the end of the closet wall again. The portal formed into a small orb and detached itself from the wall. The orb was big and silver and reflected the aforementioned paradise. The reflections began to disappear, replaced by misty darkness. Almost like fog.

The orb opened a single red eye, and the lights in the room flickered and died. Inside the closet, only a red eye floating in the air could be seen. Sometimes, a steadly pulsating glow would light up the room as the eye blinked and sunk towards the ground.

On the other side of the closet, a black widow scurried out from under the door and scurried off.

---------------------

Kirby awoke in a black void, standing on a ground that didn't seem there, and staring at a sky that didn't seem there either. To make things even more confusing, enormous red eyes were staring at him from all directions and he couldn't move. He struggled slightly, and something in his brain spoke.

"DON'T STRUGGLE." It said in both a roar and a hiss. The voice reverberated around Kirby's mind, causing his head to pound like a drum. Kirby growled as the eyes stared at him in his torment. Without caring which was which, he desperately reached for one, screaming with his arms out-stretched, ready and willing to rip them apart, limb by limb, limbs or not.

"BASTARDS! THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!" he roared. "YOU TOOK AWAY EVERYTHING FROM ME! YOU'VE..."

"Destroyed you?" said the icy voice in his mind again, causing more sharp pains all over himself. Kirby shook furiously and concentrated, trying to find the source of the voice. A huge red eye in front of him opened in a flash, the eye itself over two hundred thousand kilometers tall, it's enormous pupil focused on Kirby. All Kirby could see was the pupil. He could not turn his gaze from it.

In the pupil, a "movie" began to play. The movie was of Honey in her final seconds, as her eyes rolled into her head and became glazed and expressionless, as her face wrinkled, she thinned until she was no thicker than a garden hose, her entire body became paler than a spirit, and she flailed wildly as the beeping in the background became faster and faster until it beeped more rapidly than machine-gun fire...

And then it stopped. She stopped flailing. The beeping became singular and endless, and the strange shadowy man removed his lips from hers. Her lips had become dry, white, bloodless. Her expression was frozen. Tufts of hair had fallen from her head, rendering her mostly bald. Kirby watched in shock as the black fog floated out of her dry lips, her entire life inside it, making the fog glow and pulse.

The "movie" stopped playing, and Kirby roared into the enormous eye. The eye didn't so much as blink.

"Look around you." said the icy voice, sending more bolts of pain into Kirby's mind.

Kirby did as such, and saw millions of pulsating, glowing orbs all around the black fog. Souls. Spirits. Lives. An enormous claw appeared from the black fog with an orb inside it's grip. Kirby could see something reflected in the orb.

Tiff. Tiff was reflected in the orb. This...must be...

But just as he realized it, the claw squeezed the shining orb, and it shattered into pieces of glass, which another claw caught. That claw rose towards Kirby, and showed him the pieces.

There was nothing there. It was blank. In a sudden rush of adrenaline, Kirby broke free from his floating prison and grabbed the claw. He took the pieces in his arms and as the black fog watched, in shock for the first time, Kirby fell into the infinite void, the pieces of Tiff's soul in his arms. Kirby closed his eyes as he was engulfed in the darkness once again.

The medallion flickered to life just as Kirby flickered into unconsciousness.


	18. PART 17: Reflections

**PART 17: Reflection**

Ribbon now lived in a house on a cloud. The house was small, quaint, two-stories tall, it had flowerpots in all of the windows. The house was about as big to her as an average two-story house would be to you. The house was also a perfect replica of her original home before it was destroyed. And the house also had a secret.

Objects in the house had been enchanted so that they were telepathically linked to certain people. At her command, she could see, hear and _smell_ a certain person's thoughts and actions. Different objects were connected to different people, such as the mirror on a wall in her room, which was twice as large as she was. The mirror was connected to Kirby, and the mirror also connected to every other object in the same way. She even had a smaller mirror telepathically connected to herself.

With these, her access to the rest of the world was incredible. Dead or not, she now had the ability to see everything that happened to anyone at any time.

Right now, she was in her room, wearing bunny pajamas and attempting to fall asleep and having no such luck. Even her teddy bear wasn't helping, which was supposedly impossible. Mr. Snuffles always helped. She got up out of bed, her long pink hair flowing down past her shoulders without the ribbon, and tried to get a glass of water. The faucet handle didn't move when she pulled it, so she pulled harder.

The faucet handle flew off and went flying through a window, shattering it. She smacked herself in the face in a "D'oh" fashion, and went outside to get the handle. She walked across the cloud for a few seconds, then remembered that the cloud wasn't a solid object and fell through it. Without bothering to wonder exactly why her house didn't fall through the cloud as well, she muttered "This just isn't my day".

---------------

Kirby ran around a field of flowers, oblivious to the fact that he was dreaming. Everytime he stepped on a flower, it'd pop back up again instantly. Since there wasn't much else to do besides run around a field and speak in your native language (POYO!), Kirby was doing just that. Like a maniac. But he was like a kid again, although there were large gaps between the memories from being three years old, the memories of being over a hundred (teenage years to a Dreamlander), and the memories of being over two-hundred (about an adult). No matter, he could now clear his head of all his sadness and run around like a happy maniac again.

Eventually, Kirby became bored and began to think of something fun to do. He thought of the demons Dedede would send out, and the image of a giant golden clock that jumped around and fired soundwaves appeared in his mind.

Just like that, a giant golden clock appeared. It's hour and minute hands made a mustache shape, and it was really large, towering above Kirby's stature. Luckily for Kirby, this was his dream, so he could make his enemy as smart and stupid as he wanted and he could use whatever power he liked! An image of himself with a yo-yo popped into his mind...

Just like that, another version of himself with a baseball cap and a red yo-yo appeared. This version of himself was red and grinning. It wasn't exactly what Kirby had originally had in mind, but he closed his eyes and thought of a yellow version of himself with Ninja powers, a green version of himself with Sword powers, and himself with Bomb powers.

Just like _that_, Kirby flipped into the air and exploded in a flash of pyrotechnics. He reformed out of nowhere wearing a blue hat which had a yellow bobble at the end on his head. He was now carrying a bomb as large as he was!

"BOMB!" he screamed as he landed on the ground and the other Kirbys attacked the clock monster in a mad rush. The red Kirby stood on his head and began to spin around like a top, the yo-yo flying around him as he began to spin faster and faster. The green Kirby attacked the clock by rapidly slashing it over and over and over with his sword, then jumping high into the air sword first and releasing a powerful shockwave across the ground. The yellow Kirby hopped around like a rabbit, leaping around the enemy and throwing small swords at it. Kirby rolled around everyone and chucked bombs at the enemy, hitting every single time as the enemy was blinded by the smoke from the eruptions.

The enemy exploded in a cloud of smoke, and Kirby squealed. He always loved fighting enemies, especially with a team.

---------------

Ribbon smacked herself over and over again as she fell.

"Stupid...stupid...stupid...stupid..." she repeated over and over again, until she suddenly stopped. "Wait a minute! I have wings!"

She stopped falling and her wings began to flap at the speed of a hummingbirds. She flew back towards the cloud like a small rocket..

And she hit her head against it with a crash. She spun around dizzily for a few seconds, regained her footing (metaphorically speaking) and flew around the cloud and toward her home. She landed on the doorstep and dusted herself off, and then remembered she had forgotten the faucet. She smacked herself again and gave up and walked back inside, trying to fall asleep again.

--------------

Kirby had summoned a ton of enemies with his mind, and was now fighting them as a team, unleashing tons of different powers and manipulating every part of his dream at his will. He could summon bursts of lava, more Kirbies, water, floods, tornadoes, any ability he choosed...

Right now, he was facing down an army of super-smart Dededes with over a thousand Kirbies, each a different color and carrying a set of abilities he had created. Some wielded dodgeballs, others ran really fast, some wielded baseballs and baseball bats, and some jumped high. He had made an athletic set of abilites, which were not very useful, but Kirby was having too much fun to care. He closed his eyes and smiled as the Sports Kirbys launched thier athletic arsenal, making the Dededes explode as the Baseball Gernades smacked against them, as the Track Bomber dropped mines at thier feet, and as the Napalm Dodgeballs filled the enemy with missiles upon contact.

-------------

Ribbon walked over to her mirror and began to brush her hair for the sake of passing the time until she could fall asleep. As she looked into the mirror, she realized what was worrying her.

"I just realized what was worrying me!" she screamed out of nowhere. "It's...it's...errr...nevermind. I lost it." With that, she continued to brush her hair absent-mindedly, until she realized what was worrying her again.

"KIRBY!" she yelled out of nowhere. The mirror jumped to life, the images on it beggining to spin around wildly, faster and faster until...static. Nothing. No response.

"That must mean that Kirby isn't in Dreamland..." she said, getting the brush caught in her hair in the process.

"Curse this thing!" she yelled, and the brush melted. She smacked herself again.

-------------

Kirby suddenly began to feel very drowsy, so he thought about coffee. A cup of coffee appeared over his and landed on it with a crash, showering Kibry in glass and hot coffee. Kirby began to ran around in circles.

"OW! HOT! HOT!" he yelled, flailing around wildly, like a chicken with it's head cut off. He closed his eyes and wished that the coffee would vanish. It did with a small poof, and he smiled again. This time, he envisioned himself carrying a cup of coffee..

A small version of himself appeared with a cup of coffee.

"Here's your coffee, Kirby." it said as it vanished and Kirby took the coffee. Kirby drank the entire thing in one swallow, and then he started to shake wildly, as if he was going to explode. Kirby's eye seemed to pop from his head as he exploded in a hyper sugar rush. His entire body began to glow.

"COFFEE, COFFEE, COFFEE, COFFEE! WISH UPON THE KIRBY!" Kirby screamed insanely, running into walls. The other Kirbys began to do the exact same thing. Everything was chaos...sort of. Kirby was having more fun than ever and he had just had coffee. He loved coffee. He liked lollipops more, but he loved coffee.

--------------

Finally, Ribbon untangled the brush from her pink locks and shook them. She stared into the mirror firmly and stated "Mirror, show me Kirby's dreams."

The reflections in the mirror began to swirl wildly again, until an image appeared of Kirby in a strange void running into walls over and over again while screaming something about chickens, bombs, cans of soda, green chuchus, someone named Pishi, and chu-chus. His eyes were large, as if he was in shock or overly hyper or both. Ribbon mentally shook herself and rubbed her eyes to make sure she was looking at and hearing everyting right.

Same thing. Kirby had just slammed right through a wall, and was now jumping back and forth through the hole he had left. Ribbon mentally shook herself again and then talked into the mirror, accidently changing a voice setting in the portal at the same time.

-------------

"Kirby!" yelled a deep male voice in Kirby's head. Kirby looked around, and heard staticy noises. Suddenly, a female voice interrupted him.

"OK...this is the right one..." it said. "Kirby, I need you to calm down, stop being hyper, and wake up. I need to see where you are." it said.

Kirby didn't bother trying to listen. Instead, he looked around and began to spin in circles, trying to find the source of the voice. The voice sighed and there was more static.

"I HAVE TAKEN OVER YOUR SOUL AND HAVE KILLED EVERYONE. WAKE UP AND KILL THINGS AGAIN." the voice said in the fakest sinister voice possible. Kirby fell for it and began to pinch himself crazily, trying to wake up.

Suddenly, he was interrupted by a hand holding onto his shoulder. Kirby looked up into the eyes of a larger and much more wiser-looking version of himself. That version held a tight grip on his shoulder.

"Ribbon, it is I. Tell me how to awaken." commanded the older Kirby.

-------------

Ribbon stared in shock. TWO Kirbies? It wasn't possible! The mirror was focused on the younger one, but she wasn't sure which was which, and even if she did, she didn't know how to wake them up or where they were.

"I don't know!" she almost yelled into the mirror, forgetting to change her voice beforehand.

-------------

"I DON'T KNOW!" yelled the dark, sinister voice. There was static again.

"I mean...I don't know." corrected the female voice. The older Kirby sighed, and kept a firm grip on the younger Kirby's shoulder. The caffiene was wearing off, and the younger Kirby was becoming drowsy again.

"Can you at least explain this bizzare lapse in my memories? I do not understand it. It seems strange...it feels strange...it is strange." the older Kirby stated, as a gentleman's cane materialized in his other hand. He spun it around and awaited Ribbon's answer.

"Hmm...I don't know what's going on either. Do you have any idea where you are?" Ribbon's voice said, echoing in thier minds. The older Kirby shook his head and closed his eyes for a second. "No. Everything is clouded by a solemn and unpenetrable shadow. I can not see past it." the older Kirby stated, opening his eyes as they rolled back into thier proper position. The younger Kirby had fallen asleep at his knees.

------------

"They're alive..." Ribbon whispered solemnly, as she knotted her ribbon into her pink hair and sighed. It's not like she wasn't glad they were alive, she was quite the opposite. But she was still worried...

Her worries were suddenly confirmed when the reception of the mirror began to short out, replaced by her regular reflection. Randomly, the image of the two Kirbys would pop back into existence again, the younger Kirby asleep and the older Kirby staring at something, looking both ready for battle and perfectly calm at the same time, but the reason the image was shorting out was unknown. The reflection flickered back to existence again, and that's when she thought she noticed two small red eyes glowing at her from the background. When she turned around, there was nothing there.

------------

"Ribbon! Ribbon!" the older Kirby yelled. "Can you hear me? Respond!" the older Kirby shouted. The dream-world was mutating wildly. The ground cracked, volcanoes spewed, and everything was surrounded by a sinister fog...

The older Kirby pulled out a black cape and swung it in front of the younger Kirby and himself. The fog bounced off the cape as he held it like a shield. The ground began to crack underneath his feet as the younger Kirby began to twitch in his sleep.

"A nightmare within a dream...it's pulling this world apart..." the older Kirby realized, grabbing the younger Kirby, wrapping them both in the cape, and jumping away from the earthquake splitting the ground. There was an erratic explosion behind him as enormous bursts of steam and lava erupted from within the confines of the ground.

------------

Ribbon looked into the mirror again. It's powers and the lights had shorted out completely, and now her reflection was the only thing that could be seen within the mirror. There were also a pair of red eyes in the back of the room, but when she turned around, they were not there. She was holding the smaller mirror in her tiny fists as if she was going to use it as a weapon.

The blinds were covering the windows, so she couldn't see in front of her at all. Regardless, she had ducked underneath the desk that the mirror was on, and she was holding the small mirror in her hands. She would face away from the rest of the room and look into the reflection, trying to find the source of the small red eyes. She could see them..they were about twenty feet away from the window.

Deciding to risk a risk, she crawled out from underneath the desk and rolled under her bed, which had just large enough of a gap to let her underneath. Just large enough, unfortunately, and as she rolled underneath it, she hit her head against one of the supports.

"OW!" she yelled, quickly covering her mouth a second later. Cautiosly, she turned away from the rest of the room and looked into the mirror's reflection. The red eyes were literally snaking right toward her, now only ten feet away. She squeaked and began to roll out from underneath the bed, the eyes zig-zagging back and forth in the mirror's reflection, giving thier invisible chase.

She reached the window just as the eyes in the reflection barely grazed her side. She pulled the blinds and they sprung up, and she quickly rolled away from the window as the thing with the mysterious eyes screeched and escaped back into the darkness. She got to her feet and stood at the end of the light's rays, looking into the mirror for the eyes again.

She saw them in the mirror and angled the mirror so that it faced the window and the eyes at 90 degree angles. The light from the sun's rays bounced off the mirror and shone at the place where the eyes were, and there was a flash of light as the eyes opened wide and exploded.

--------------

The older Kirby held the cane out to his side and it stretched out until it was over five feet long. He placed it against the ground and used it to pole vault over an enormous canyon. He landed safely on the other side, his cape flapping behind him and the younger Kirby in his arms. As soon as he landed, he ran forward and stopped at what could only be described as an enormous multi-colored whirlpool.

"The void.." he whispered. He laid the younger Kirby on the ground and shook him slightly until he began to stir. The dark clouds parted, and the lava stopped flowing immediately. The younger Kirby began to speak, but the older Kirby put a finger to his lips.

"Shh.." he whispered into his ear. "Stay here." With those words, the older Kirby jumped into the whirlpool-like void and disappeared. The younger Kirby stared, mesmerized.

--------------

With a flash of light and a rumble, something shot from Ribbon's large mirror like a rocket. It was Kirby, only he was wearing a long black cape and was slightly larger. Before she could say anything, the older Kirby threw the window open and jumped out of it.

"Yeah, I love you too." Ribbon said sarcastically, pouting.


	19. PART 18: Phobia

**PART 18: Phobia**

A phobia is quite simply translated as an extreme fear of something. For example, Arachnophobia is a fear of spiders. Altophobia is a fear of heights. Algophobia is a fear of pain. Phobophobia is a fear of fear itself. Aquaphobia is a fear of water.

Asthenophobia is a fear of weakness. Atelophobia is a fear of imperfection. Atephobia is a fear of ruin. Atychiphobia is a fear of failure. Hadeophobia is a fear of Hell.

Homichlophobia is a fear of fog. Sciophobia is a fear of shadow. And Lygophobia...

Is a fear of darkness.

--------------

The ship was having obvious pest problems. Every few minutes, the patter of small feet could be heard through the walls. Every day, more and more cockroaches and spiders would show up. What was odd about all this is that such creatures had not been seen on the ship before, and now there were thousands of them. And allergies were the least of everyone's problems.

People classified to have phobias of certain things would report to Yabui that they were seeing enormous versions of thier worst fears. About one of every older person having the same problem would be found dead of a heart attack a few hours later. So much of this was happening that Yabui set up cameras in some of the rooms of the people who were reporting this.

After a few hours, Dr. Yabui recieved another report from one of the people he had set up cameras for, a chubby middle-aged single man, with black hair and black eyes, who liked to watch cartoons and read comic books.

"IT WAS HUGE!" the person screamed. "I was in my room, reading a book, and suddenly, a spider with a pointy tail larger than my head crawls down the wall from the cieling and looks at me-"

"It's called a scorpion. Continue." Yabui interrupted.

"OK...it stares at me for a second and I get all freaked out, and then it crawls towards the floor and begins to scurry towards me, swinging it's tail around slowly and stuff, and then, it begins to touch me with those thingies on it's mouth-" continued the man.

"Feelers?" Yabui interrupted again.

"Yeah, those things." the man said before continuing. "So, it's all feeling my leg with those feeler thingies, and I get all freaked out again and begin to sweat and I try to hit it, and then I scream and black out. And when I wake up, it's gone!"

"Well, it's obvious you have arachnophobia. But I don't think there are any giant scorpions on this ship." Yabui stated. "But, if you would, bring me the tape from the security camera anyways."

The man left the room, and returned a few minutes later with a black tape.

"Thank you." said Yabui. "Now, please leave."

The man did as such, and Yabui sat on his chair with the tape in his hand for ten full minutes. As soon as he had done so, he put the tape inside a compartment in his desk. A second later, he pulled out what looked like the same tape and walked over to the door. He opened it and stuck his head out.

"Mr. Wozere, you may come in here now." he stated nonchalantly. The man, Mr. Wozere, did so, and Yabui faced him.

"There is no scorpion on this tape. All I see is you reading a comic book, freaking out, screaming, and fainting. You were hallucinating." Dr. Yabui announced.

"What? No, I wasn't. Let me see that!" Wozere demanded. Yabui nodded and put the tape in a VCR player. He hit play and took a step backwards.

Exactly as Yabui had told him, after a few minutes, the Wozere on the tape threw his comic book at something and began to freak out, flailing his arms and attempting to hit something that wasn't there, screaming all the while. The Wozere on the tape then fainted a few minutes later.

"See?" Yabui asked.

"...Yes." admitted Wozere.

"Then, tell me what other fears you have." commanded Yabui.

"Well...let's see...I'm afraid of fire-" Wozere began.

"Then you have pyrophobia." Yabui interrupted with a strange glint in his eye.

"And I'm afraid of the dark..." Wozere continued.

"Then you have Lygophobia as well. You may go now." Yabui interrupted.

"But I'm not finished!" Wozere continued.

"I've got all the information I need!" Yabui yelled, pointing towards the door. Wozere gave up and left the office, slamming the door behind him.

-------------------

Kirby jumped from the house's window and burst through the cloud, falling toward the ground below. It was then that he noticed that there wasn't any fog there. Was it possible that the fog had already escaped?

The dead fairies on the ground answered his question for him...that meant he must be on Ripple Star, and that meant he had no way to get back home...he stopped himself in midfall and puffed up his cheeks like a helium balloon. He then began to propel himself upwards slowly, floating back towards the cloud above.

He landed on Ribbon's doorstep safely and sat there for a minute, trying to think of a way to get back. If he was correct, he had 48 hours before the fog left Pop Star. That wasn't much time...he didn't have his warpstar, and there was no way to get an ability that could fly him there fast enough.

Ribbon stuck her head out of a window and looked at Kirby. She wasn't wearing her ribbon, so her hair fell down past her shoulders.

"So you decided to come back then?" she asked, flying out of the window and landing on her own doorstep, next to Kirby.

"I don't think deciding it is the proper word." Kirby replied honestly. Ribbon snorted.

"Then why did you? Why are you even on Ripple Star?" Ribbon asked him.

I have no idea. One second, I'm a teenager jumping into the Black Fog's clutches, the next second I'm an adult in a dream of one of my alternate personalities." Kirby explained. "I jumped through a void in the dream and sailed out of your mirror. Almost immediately, I thought I was still in Dreamland and jumped right out the window."

"Oh." Ribbon said, a bit sad.

"Sorry." Kirby admitted. "I only came back up to your house because I realized I'm-"

Kirby stopped and clutched his head in his hands as if he had a murderous migraine.

"Gah...something's wrong with my head..." he muttered. The pain ceased, and he let go and continued. "...on Ripple Star, on the other side of the solar system."

Ribbon was staring at him thoughtfully.

"Oh dear..." she said, worried. "I think I know a way you can get home." Kirby was beggining to relax.

"Oh. If you would, can you tell me how?" he asked politely. Ribbon bit her lip.

"In all honesty, Kirby, I'd rather you not go. I want you to stay here, with me." she admitted, sighing.

"Why?" Kirby asked her. Ribbon did not answer.

"It's...uh...err..um..because I...I..." she began, losing her composure. Kirby stared at her blankly with one eye opened wide.

"Nevermind." Ribbon said, stopping. "I'll show you how to get back home." She opened the front door and flew into her house, flew up the stairs, and flew into her room, with Kirby following. Kirby walked into her room just as she looked into her mirror and shouted something.

The reflections in the mirror began to spin around wildly, faster and faster and faster until an image of Kabu appeared. Kirby gaped at it.

"Inconcievable!" he shouted. "He can survive the black fog?"

"Yes, but that doesn't matter. To get home, you need to jump through that mirror. Once you do so, you'll be closer to your destination than ever." Ribbon explained. Kirby noticed she wasn't looking straight at him, but he didn't have time to wonder why. He started towards the mirror, and Ribbon grabbed onto his hand.

"Wait...before you go..." she said, looking straight into his eyes, a tear welling down her cheek. Without a single word, she closed her eyes and kissed him. The moment was completely impossible to describe in words. A second later, Ribbon stopped and took a step backwards.

"Promise me you'll find some way...to come back and see me again." Ribbon asked, one hand against Kirby's cheek.

"I promise." he said, taking one more look at Ribbon before jumping into the mirror, which turned back into a reflection as he did so.

---------------

"I should just get some sleep..." Wozere decided as soon as he had walked into his room. He cleared his bed (large enough for three people, himself included) of all his comic books with a sweep of his hand. After that, he climbed into his bed and laid on the plain blue sheets and closed his eyes, waiting to fall asleep.

Only half a minute later, he heard his door slide open. Quickly, he opened his eyes and rolled around so he could see the source of the noise.

But there was nothing there except a floating video tape. He stopped.

"Wait, what?" he thought, staring at the floating video tape in shock. He got to his feet and jumped off his bed, and then he ran as fast as his legs would carry him and squeezed under his computer desk, cowering with his hands covering his neck and his head between his legs. After a few minutes, he dared himself to peek a look at the... whatever it was.

Next to the floating video tape was a floating lighter. And it was ignited. Wozere's eyes opened wide and he began to breathe deeply and sweat. His breathing became difficult, and his heart was beating like a drummer on steroids.

"Oh my..." he whispered as the floating lighter set the floating tape ablaze and threw it at the desk, which immediately set on fire. Smoke began to cloud the room as flames leaped all around the desk, which began to fall apart. The flames reached his computer's hardrive, which then exploded in a shower of sparks, setting more things ablaze. The sounds of the fire crackling were joined by sounds of electric sparks from the computer's remains. Flames leaped onto the floor, setting it ablaze and surrounding Wozere in a wall of orange, yellow, and red death.

Wozere didn't know what to do. Instead of staying under the desk (which was beggining to collapse), he leaped into the flames, hoping he'd go right through the wall of fire and land safely on the other side.

He did. He leaped through the foot-thick wall of flames and was burned, but he managed to get onto his bed just before the flames made the desk collapse. The flames spread across the floor, strengthened by all the flammable junk that he had laying around it. For someone so afraid of the flames, Wozere had never realized just how unsafe his room was from them.

The bed was the next thing to catch on fire. The wooden frame was incinerated in seconds as the flames climbed it and leaped onto his sheets. Everything was lit shades of orange and yellow now, including Wozere. Wozere backed away from the flames and crawled up against the corner of the room (the bed was located in the corner), and then he put his hands over his head and tried to avoid looking at the flames.

He felt a smelly liquid being poured down on him from above. It smelled like...gasoline? He dared himself to look up and what he saw was a floating gasoline tank just above him, pouring it's contents all over his head. Knowing what this meant, Wozere screamed as the flames leaped onto him.

---------------

In a flash of light, Kirby fell from an enormous spinning, multi-colored warp that was twenty feet off the ground, and landed safely in Kabu's valley. Kabu's eyes were wide open, covered in spider webs, and the entire canopy was as dark as ink. Kirby turned towards Kabu and yelled out.

"KABU!" he shouted. "ARE YOU ALIVE?"

No answer. Kabu did not stir, and Kirby could not waste any more precious seconds, no matter how many questions he wanted answered. Kirby left the valley and reentered the black fog, his cape surrounding him and the medallion lighting his path.

----------------

A horrific explosion rocked the entire ship, throwing everyone off thier feet and knocking picture frames off the walls. Before anyone could get back up on thier feet, the ship was rocked again by another series of terrible explosions, one after the other, each one louder than a sonicboom. The explosions continued for about thirty seconds, throwing people, objects, and everything else around like rag dolls in a car crusher.

As soon as the explosions were finished, everything was silent, except for the cries of a baby echoing throughout the building. It wasn't until a few minutes later that someone, a man named Sam, braved to exit his room and look for the source of the explosion.

Everything looked normal enough...except for the strange sucking sound coming from Wozere's room. Blinking, Sam tried to open the door. In an enormous burst of smoke and steam, the door flew open and Sam started to walk into the room, but stopped.

"Oh my god..." he muttered as he looked through the door.

There was no room at all. Just an enormous hole where it used to be, an enormous hole with no walls around it, filled with the wonders, lack of gravity, and lack of oxygen of space. There were absolutely no remains. It could only be described as nothing at all.

Quickly, he backed away from the door and shut it.

---------------

Kirby ran through the fog, leaping over things in his way and flipping over whatever obstacles got in his path. He knew where he needed to go from here, and he knew he needed to get there as quickly as possible.

As he raced through the fog, an icy voice split the impenetrable silence like a knife through string.

"It's nice to see you again." it said, devoid of any emotion at all. "But do you really think I'm going to let you just rush right through me? You are comprimising my existence, and I can not let you pass." Kirby continued running, ignoring the voice.

"Why do you run? Are you afraid of shadow?" it asked.

"Fear is not part of the equation of my mind." Kirby said smugly.

"Then allow me to add another variable to the equation." it said. The entire fog began to swirl around and around, turning a dark red color as it did so. Kirby stopped and covered himself with his cape as a piece of the fog split from the rest of it and formed itself into a familiar shape.

First, it took the form of a grinning Ribbon, only a single shade of black with red, pupiless eyes. Then, it began to mutate into a fifty foot tall vaguely humanoid black fog creature, thousands of tentacles bursting from it's back, sharp fangs growing in it's jaws, and smoke pouring out of it's mouth.

As Kirby covered the rest of himself with his cape, the newly dubbed Nightmare Ribbon roared and shot a jet of fire into the air.

"Part fog...part dragon...part dinosaur...part fairy...part tentacle monster thing. This is going to be a very difficult fight." Kirby thought.


	20. PART 19: Heat of Battle I

**PART 19: Heat of Battle (Part I)**

Nightmare Ribbon reared back and roared a roar so powerful that the grayish-brown wasteland that was the landscape began to crack underneath Kirby's feet. The cracks around Kirby then exploded, releasing volley after volley of two-feet thick fireballs, each one one flying toward the sky like rockets and sailing back down to Dreamland like air-to-ground missiles. And with a crackling of flames and a whoosh of wind that could knock a jet out of the air, every single fireball flew right past Kirby, who hadn't moved, missing him by inches and exploding in bursts of magma, rock, and flame.

Nightmare Ribbon's souless eyes were now different shades of orange, yellow, and red. It was as if it had a fireplace for an eye socket. It reared back again, and it's eyes flashed as it's entire body ignited, transforming it into a massive living fireball, with it's body and tentacles made out of pure skin-scalding flame. It took a step forward and punched the air with it's gigantic truck-sized fist and, as if on cue, it's hundred-foot long tentacles whipped out and swung at Kirby at the speed of a runaway locomotive.

Kirby slid under this attack feet-first, the tentacles missing his head by inches. The heat radiating from them alone could have probably turned an entire solid wall of titanium into ash. As Kirby jumped back onto his feet, he had to quickly duck a nanosecond later, for the deadly tentacles pulled back so quickly that he was thrown off his feet and almost incinerated by the speed and the heat of thier retraction. The star warrior regained his footing just as Nightmare Ribbon spoke in an undescribable voice.

"They call you a legendary hero?" it snapped icily. "Even when I use only the bare minimum of my power, you can't even touch me."

The best way to describe the voice was that it was feminine, like Ribbons, only menacing, powerful, and as icy as the coldest winter. It pounded against the confines of Kirby's mind as it seemed to speak to him from every direction, echoing in his ears like a loud voice in an empty cavern.

"You don't scare me." Kirby retorted, attempting to watch every move it made, from the tip of the claws on it's feet to the end of its tentacles.

The Nightmare Ribbon could have had the policy that actions speak better than words, for it retorted by swinging every single one of it's deadly tentacles at the star warrior, sending some just above his head and others straight across the ground. Unfortunately, the thick black fog kept Kirby from seeing the ones that were being swung just above him, and as he leaped over one of the ones on the ground, he was immediately smashed by one that had been just above it.

About the best way to describe the pain that came from this attack is that it'd be about the same pain you'd feel if you ran head-first into a gigantic oven. The force from the blast set Kirby on fire and sent him flying across the landscape while staying suspended a few feet in the air. Seconds later, he crashed right through the ground like a knife into a sheet of paper.

As soon as he stopped, the flames covering his body died down, and the weakened star warrior closed his eyes and coughed up ash and blood. When he opened his eyes again, he was greeted by an enormous fiery tentacle which had wrapped itself around his waist like an anaconda. Before he could think, it pulled Kirby out of the ground and back onto the surface, the heat from it's powerful grip burning his sides. At the speed of a bolt of lightning, the tentacle pulled Kirby all the way back to Nightmare Ribbon and threw him onto the ground.

"Sorry, Kirby, but I want to have the pleasure of killing you myself. It's much more fun that way." it sneered.

"How is killing your enemy fun when they don't even put up a fight?" Kirby retorted as he got on his feet, his eyes gleaming.

"I guess you're right. I should give you a fair chance..." it replied, grinning. "...IN HELL."

It reared back again and opened it's enormous jaws as it spit thousands of fireballs straight into the air, just above Kirby's head. In seconds, the fireballs fell back toward the ground, directly above him, falling like meteors. Kirby quickly walked a few steps backwards and took an enormous breath of air, pulling the fireballs straight out of the sky and directly into his open mouth. He swallowed them.

In a flash of flame and pyrotechnics, Kirby flipped into the air and began to glow. A fiery aura appeared around his hands, and a small tiara with a fire emblem on the front appeared around his forehead.

"BURNING!" the star warrior screamed as he turned into an enormous fireball and flew at Nightmare Ribbon like a rocket. To his horror, he passed right through it and flew straight out the other side. He turned back from a fireball into Burning Kirby and landed on the ground. Icy laughter echoed through his mind as Nightmare Ribbon began to burn brighter and started to become larger then ever.

"Fool!" it's voice laughed. "Do you really expect to fight fire with fire?"

Now that Kirby was behind the demonic monstrosity itself, he found himself face-to-face with every single one of it's thousand powerful tentacles. The tentacles flew towards Kirby and began to wrap around every part of him, until there was no sign of him behind the newly former fiery knot that surrounded him. As smoke rose from the knot of tentacles and the air was filled with an intense sizzling sound, they began to lift the star warrior into the air, wrapping themselves around him tighter and tighter, squeezing him like a mouse in the grip of an anaconda. The sizzling noise was joined by a sickening crunch.

A few seconds later, the tentacles stopped squeezing, and nothing could be heard but the sizzling and crackling of flames. Slowly, the tentacles started to untie themselves. In less than a minute, a completely limp arm could be seen hanging from a gap in the tentacle's knot. The arm was burned black, with small spots of pink in the places that had not been burned. Smoke rose from it into the sky.

Soon, a small charred body fell from the grip of the tentacles and hit the ground, bouncing off it like rubber.

It was Kirby.

Now that Nightmare Ribbon's work was finished, it transformed back into the shadow clone of Ribbon. The entire process, from the tentacles retracting into it's back, it's fangs disappearing, the flames going out, and it shrinking down to a size that was twice as large as Ribbon's own, took only seconds. Nightmare Ribbon became completely solid, something it had not done before, and it then proceeded to slowly walk over to Kirby and grab him by one arm, with one arm. It lifted Kirby off the ground until his face was level with it's own.

"How does it feel to die, Kirby? It's a feeling I'll probably never experience, so do be a nice corpse and tell me." it requested in a falsely polite tone.

Suddenly, Kirby's charred skin turned back to normal as his hand began to glow again. The tiara appeared on his head and he opened his eyes and grinned.

"It feels a bit like this." he retorted, escaping from Nightmare Ribbon's grip and turning into a living fireball.

He flew straight into it, setting it ablaze and knocking it a few feet backwards. He turned back to normal again as a drop of solid black mist fell from Nightmare Ribbon's mouth and hit the ground, instantly evaporating into the sky.

"Clever." it hissed as it regained it's footing. "Very clever. Apparently you do have a little fight in you yet."

--------------------

Thousands upon thousands of miles away, someone was waiting. Sitting on the top of a tower so tall that it was higher than the clouds was Meta Knight.

"Hurry Kirby." he whispered to the winds, his sword at his side. "The fight is only beggining."


	21. PART 20: Heat of Battle II

**PART 20: Heat of Battle (Part II)**

"But no matter how hard you try, you'll never make out of here alive!" roared Nightmare Ribbon as the tentacles, now much smaller and shaped like scythes, burst out of its back and arced towards the ground until they went straight into it, digging right through it like drills. Before Kirby knew what was happening, the ground was shaking underneath his feet.

Seconds later, the tentacles burst from the ground all around Kirby, surrounding the star warrior in what could be called a roofless cage, with massive scythe-shaped tentacles for bars, each one moving back and forth like cobras, as if daring him to attempt to get past them...daring him to move...to breathe...

No sooner _had _he breathed than the scythe tentacles struck, giving him no time to dodge. The sharpness of the "blade" sliced through Kirby's skin and knocked him into the path of another scythe tentacle, which immediately slashed him again into another one, until Kirby found himself in what was almost a deadly game of tennis...and he was the ball.

After a few more powerful slashes, Kirby managed to grip onto one of the misty blades and flip onto it, balancing himself on it's edge. The tentacles reacted by attacking him all at once, and he leaped away just as all the simultaneous attacks ripped through the place he had just been standing. The tentacles ran into each-other and became ferociously entangled to the point where they couldn't even cut themselves loose. Kirby landed safely a few inches away.

Nightmare Ribbon realized that it was now completely stuck. The tentacles were knotted so much that it couldn't retract them. Kirby realized this too, and took advantage of the moment to attempt to run at Nightmare Ribbon and smash into it with the Burning ability.

Nightmare Ribbon didn't have enough time to stop the attack and it was hit just as it was about to begin a transformation. Suddenly, it's eyes began to change all kinds of colors, from blue to red to green to black...

They began to slow down like a slot machine until they eventually stopped on blue. Nightmare Ribbon seemed to smile as it turned from gas to liquid, it's entire body becoming water and flowing across the ground. Kirby could feel it underneath his feet as it flowed past him, but it felt more like there was blood flowing against his feet instead of water.

It wasn't too long before the water stopped flowing, and Kirby found himself being pulled down, as if the ground beneath him had turned to quicksand. Looking below him, he discovered that the entire ground was completely gone. In seconds, it had been completely eroded. Grabbing onto him and pulling him under was a pair of misty blue hands that were reaching upwards from the depths of the newly formed canyon.

He struggled to escape from their grip, but it was impossible...they were too strong. Instead, he stopped struggling and took a deep breath as they pulled him the rest of the way underwater, the tiara and the power that came with it slipping off his head onto the water's surface.

Soon, he found himself on the ocean floor, and the hands released their grip. They were pulled back into an enormous shape in the water...an enormous sea serpent, completely blue down to the soulless eyes, and over twenty miles in diameter and fifty miles in length. It seemed to be made of both water and fog. Armless, legless, rows upon rows of incredibly sharp teeth, everything around it being sucked into what appeared to be a whirlpool that made up the rest of it's body.

Kirby began to swim, using his arms to propel himself back to the surface as quickly as possible. Halfway to the surface, the serpent's whirlpool tail swung just below him and then curved upwards in a sharp angel, hitting him from below and sending him flying straight up out of the water, where he emerged a few feet above it spinning like a top. Seconds later, he stopped spinning and began to fall as an enormous blue, fog-like sea serpent emerged from the water and opened it's wide jaws just beneath him.

It snapped it's enormous jaws shut right on Kirby's arm, the rows of enormous teeth piercing his skin like paper. His arm caught in the rows of teeth, Kirby was left dangling over the water, rocking back and forth from the wind from the serpent's cyclone tail. Kirby struggled to free his arm from the demon's powerful grip, but he soon realized struggling to escape it's teeth was like struggling to escape quicksand...you'll only sink deeper.

And the serpent's grip was getting increasingly more powerful, sinking deeper and deeper into his arm until it felt like it was going to be removed from the rest of his body. He closed his eyes and prayed, hoping that it'd eventually get bored and drop him...or swallow him. Hopefully not the latter.

----------------------

Curio inspected the security camera that had been installed in his room. After accidently knocking it off the wall, he had realized it had not been damaged. When he tried to pick it up, it felt heavier than a pile of bricks. There was definitely something strange about it, and as he opened it up, his suspicions were made clear.

A bomb. Small enough to be in the workings of a security camera, yet large and powerful enough to turn the entire room into ash. He was stunned. But before he could put 2 and 2 together, something flew from the workings of the bomb and latched onto his face. Something black and misty with a single red eye...

-----------------------

The serpent was getting bored now, so it began to toss Kirby around like a toy, throwing him as high as it could and then catching another part of him in it's teeth easily. To the serpent, this was just a game.

As Kirby was tossed hundreds of feet into the air for the seventh time, he closed his eyes and prepared for the oncoming bite. Nothing happened. Seconds later, he hit the water with a splash. Looking around for the serpent, he saw a strange figure a few feet away from him. It was leaping on and off of a tall, thin boulder, attacking the nearby serpent in the eyes whenever it got the chance, and moving so fast that it was a blur. Kirby watched with interest as the strange figure skillfully leaped over the serpent's blows, and countered with attacks of his own, never missing a single hit, and always in the eyes. It wasn't until a few minutes of this attack that the figure saw Kirby floating in the water below him, and suddenly ran away, as quickly as it had come.

The serpent, with it's blue eyes slightly faded and the whirlpool spinning less violently, turned toward Kirby and glared. It began to swim towards him, but suddenly, laser blasts seemed to rain from the sky, some going right through the creature, others hitting it directly in the eyes. Kirby looked up and saw what looked like Waddle Doos with jet-packs flying above him.

"What..." Kirby wondered, as they made a V formation and swooped down upon the serpent, blasting it with a barrage of lasers from thier jet-packs and powerful beams of energy from thier eyes.

The serpent responded to this assualt by leaping out of the water and swallowing one of the Waddle Doos whole. The formation scattered like a group of mice, and made a fruitless attempt to make a new formation. They zoomed around the serpent's head as it swallowed another one and smashed another one with his tail, sending it flying into a rock. The attack caused the jet-pack to explode, and the rock collapsed onto the head of the last Waddle Doo.

After this, another strange figure, wearing what looked like a jesters hat, leaped out of nowhere onto the serpent's head. There was a flash, and the serpent began to shake and rumble as it was engulfed in a black hole.

The figure jumped away as quickly as it had came, and the serpent shrunk. In seconds, it turned from blue to black, and the shape of Nightmare Ribbon appeared and fell towards the ground calmly and easily, as if it was jumping instead of falling towards the water below.

Seconds before it hit the water, it's entire body froze. It had become an enormous glacier that would have been shining had the black fog not been blotting out all the light. As soon as the glacier hit the water, the water began to freeze as well, and Kirby jumped onto the sheet of ice just before the place he was just floating in froze solid.

Kirby tried to move, but found himself slipping on the frozen water. The ground was cold beneath his feet, and the ice was beggining to crack. Seconds later, the ice shattered like a rock against a glass window, and Kirby was left standing on a glacier that was rising out of the water.

Looking at the ice-cold, spiky, frozen glacier, he saw a huge red eye frozen inside it. He put two-and-two together just as more glaciers rose from the ice-cold water and the one he was standing on began to crack. Quickly, he leaped onto another glacier as the one he had just been standing on shattered. The frozen eye appeared for a split second before it plunged into the water. An arrow sailed through the sky a second later, barely missing it. The glacier he was standing on began to crack as more glaciers rose from the artic waters. He jumped slightly too late, and was forced to hold onto the edge of the glacier as it continued to rise.

The other one shattered, and another arrow sailed through the air. It completely missed it's target, and the arrow hit Kirby in the arm instead, throwing him off balance. Ignoring this, he grabbed on again and attempted to climb onto the glacier, which was beggining to crack.

"Focus, men! Aim! Release everything you have! Don't let it escape!" ordered a voice so far in the distance it was barely audible. "It's almost dead! Just a few hits and we'll be finished with this thing once and for all!"

The glacier shattered with Kirby on it, sending him tumbling toward the ground, surrounded by shards of ice. Barely a second later, arrows rained from the sky again. A few of them hit the eye before it plunged into the waters again, but most of them missed thier target and hit Kirby instead. He hit the freezing cold water like a doll against a bed of knives. The cold was incredible, but the pain as the force of the water ripped the arrows from his skin was undoubtedly a lot more unbearable.

"You idiots! Hit the eye!" ordered the distant voice. "THE EYE!"

Kirby tried to swim through the ice cold waters, but he was lifted into the air by another glacier forming just below him. In exactly three seconds, the glacier shattered instantly, and Kirby fell towards the water again. Another downpour of arrows fell from the sky, but seemed to make sharp turns and hit Kirby instead.

As soon as Kirby hit the water, another glacier formed so quickly that it launched Kirby into the air. As soon as Kirby hit it, it shattered again, and the arrows fell. Kirby reacted quickly. In mid-fall, he took an enormous breath of air and swallowed one of the arrows.

With no time for poses, Kirby transformed in a flash. A sling of heart-shaped arrows appeared over one shoulder, a bow and arrow appeared in his hand, a pair of wings sprouted from his back, and a round, golden halo appeared over his head.

"ANGEL!" he shouted, as he flapped the newly-formed wings and flew high into the air. The glaciers stopped forming, and Kirby prepared an arrow.

The eye shot out from the water, and Kirby zipped away with his wings and fired an arrow, then prepared another and fired it as well in quick succession, both arrows hitting the eye directly in the center. A downpour of arrows from afar also sailed towards the eye, and Kirby zipped away from them at the last second. Every single arrow hit the eye.

There was an earth-rocking explosion as the eye shrunk into itself and imploded in a flash of light. Kirby could have cheered if he wasn't so weak. His mission accomplished, he fell toward the water below.

-----------------

The rest of the black fog screamed. A large section of it had gone into making that demon, and it had been defeated. Half of his power was completely destroyed.

"So...the...Star...Warriors...have decided...to join in this little..game..." it snarled weakly. "No matter...I've still got half of my power left. And he doesn't..have..any time...left...at least...not enough...to destroy..me..."

The eye turned towards a strange tower that stretched above the clouds.

"Go...to the...dream fountain...now...Do not fail me now..." it ordered.

A figure jumped from the edge of the tower. The black fog watched it fall towards the ground below and stop itself by forming a pair of black wings. It flew away.

"Excellent...now...all I have to do is...wait..."


	22. PART 21: Light in the Dark

**PART 21: Light in the Dark**

Slowly but surely, Kirby opened his eyes and lifted his head. The ground beneath him was smooth to the touch, and as he regained focus, he realized he was in a tent. Next to him was a smooth wooden table with a bowl of steaming soup sitting on it. As he got up, he realized he had been lying on a blanket. It was hard to make out the colors of everything, as it was apparently still dark, but he could make out the outline of a nearby lantern. Fumbling in the darkness, he reached it and turned it on.

The tent and blanket were green, the table was surprisingly smooth, and the soup looked old and fresh at the same time. Engraved in the side of the wooden table was a symbol. As he looked closer, he realized it looked like a five-pointed star.

Before he could examine anything any further, a figure burst into the tent and turned off the lantern. Kirby whipped around as the figure pinned him to the ground and put a hand over his mouth.

"Shh...don't struggle. Don't talk." it whispered. Kirby nodded and kept perfectly still. At that moment, two other figures burst into the tent. Kirby noticed that the silhouettes looked quite a bit like Waddle Dees. One of them pointed toward Kirby and the figure holding him, and the other quietly sneaked toward them. The figure didn't move.

The Waddle Dee reached them and looked around, but he didn't seem to notice them, even though they were both a foot away and in plain sight. The Waddle Dee then walked closer and closer, and when Kirby was sure they were both about to be caught, the Dee walked straight through them.

Kirby's eyes might as well have popped right out of his head. He was absolutely flabbergasted. Was he a ghost? How was the Dee able to walk right through him as if he wasn't there? He had touched the lantern without difficulty...

Eventually, the Dees left, and the figure released Kirby from his grip. Kirby stared at the silhouette, and a million questions rushed through his mind like a runaway train.

"Who are you?" he said, releasing the first question that had appeared in his mind.

The figure stepped...no, rolled...out of the shadows. Standing on a blue and red beach ball, bouncing from foot to foot like a Poppy Brother, was an armless, legless creature with brown feet attached to the round purple circle that was it's body. It was wearing a large, blue and red jester hat with two bobbles, and it had a red bow tie just beneath its mouth. It rolled closer to Kirby and bowed as well as something without arms could.

"My name is Marx," it announced proudly, "a Star Warrior at your service."

Kirby stifled a gasp of surprise.

"You're a..." he stuttered.

"Yup." it replied.

"And I'm with..."

"That's right."

"And that means..."

"Nope, Meta Knight isn't here."

Kirby's heart sunk to his stomach.

"Sorry..." Marx muttered.

"It's fine. It's not your fault." Kirby assured him.

"Oh. Well, I'm glad to see you recovered from the arrows well. Admittedly, some of our archers need a little...um...practice."

"I don't think it was them making the arrows hit me. They were moving at rather unnatural angels, all things considering."

"Well, I'll have to tell their sensei that, won't I?"

"Huh?"

"It means teacher. Anyways, we're having a small celebration to honor our victory...and your safe return. It ought to be a blast...wanna join in?"

"Well, I might as well..."

"You really need to lighten up, ya know that?" Marx teased. Kirby smiled slightly.

-----------------

The Waddle Dees rushed into a cave far away from the place where they had believed Kirby was staying. As soon as they entered, they lined up in rows and saluted like soldiers.

"Did you find anything?" said a voice.

"No, sir. No sign of the Star Warriors anywhere." one of the Dees replied.

"Look harder. I know they are around there somewhere."

"Yes, sir!" the Dees replied in unison.

----------------

When Kirby asked about how the Dees had not seen them, Marx explained that he had mastered the ability to become invisible and intangible. Only things he had touched and continued to touch before and while the spell was in effect could see and touch him, but would not be able to be seen or touched by anything else. It was slightly confusing.

"That's how we've been able to hide the tent where we're having the celebration. It gives me a headache, but I can keep something invisible and untouchable as long as I want." Marx finished. Kirby nodded, although he barely understood a word that had just been said.

Kirby could now see a huge green tent in the background, and they were getting closer to it.

"Is that..." he began to ask.

"That's right." Marx interrupted.

As soon as they approached the tent, someone leaped out of it and looked at them. That someone was wearing a dark green bandanna with a gold emblem in the center, and had dark purple skin and spiky blue hair that stuck out from both sides of the bandanna. They were wearing blue boxing gloves as well.

"Knuckle Joe!" Kirby exclaimed.

"Kirby! I haven't seen you in ages!" Joe replied, giving Kirby a playful punch on the shoulder as an afterthought.

"Joe! I didn't expect to see you here...where's your dad?" Kirby asked.

"Somewhere else," Marx interrupted, "I thought you knew that this was a different generation of Star Warriors..."

"A what?" Kirby asked, puzzled.

"A different section...a different part of the main thing...that's why you haven't heard of Marx or any of the others in here before...you and Meta Knight are literally in a league all your own." explained Knuckle Joe.

"About those others...it's about time you got introduced to them! To the celebration!" Marx interrupted, grabbing the star warrior by the arm and almost rushing him into the large green tent.

But he was interrupted by someone else coming out of the tent. Someone round and pink that looked...exactly...like...Kirby.

"Huh?" Kirby asked, staring.

"Oh don't worry, Kirby...its just Enna. She's a shape shifter. Or he is. Or it is." Knuckle Joe explained, slightly confused himself.

"You always ruin all my fun, you know that?" Enna said, sticking out a comically large tongue. He/she/it turned towards Kirby.

"Oh, you must be Kirby!" it exclaimed, "Joe has told us all a lot about you after he joined us."

As it spoke, it transformed into Knuckle Joe himself instantly, but kept on talking as if it didn't even realize it.

"Anyways, I heard you defeated Nightmare" – it transformed into Nightmare instantly as well, giving everyone quite a shock – "by yourself. Great work."

"Does it always do that?" Kirby whispered.

"Yeah, I do, actually...why? Is there something wrong with that? Is it suddenly a bad

thing?" Enna answered defensively.

"No, I didn't mean to offend you..." Kirby apologized, realizing Enna had turned itself into a rain cloud and had turned away from him. Enna turned into a giant smile and grinned.

"It's OK. Don't worry about it. I get offended easily, sometimes without realizing that I'm one of the only people who can change shape like this." Enna explained.

"Do you have a favorite form? One you like to stay in normally?" Kirby asked, filled with curiosity.

"Of course!" it replied, as it transformed into a small angel that looked like Ribbon in a costume.

"That looks like Ribbon in a costume." Kirby said, thinking aloud.

"It IS Ribbon in a costume. Or at least, that's where I got it from. I use it quite a bit, but it's not my regular form." Enna explained, laughing.

"What's your regular form?" Kirby asked. For a split second, Enna's facial expression looked unsure, but a split second later, Enna transformed into a set of periods, one after the other, so it looked like "..."

"Err, nevermind. Let's go." Kirby said, as Enna turned into a shadow and followed him.

As soon as Kirby entered the tent, he was stunned. He had walked into a tent that had not seemed large from the outside, but seemed like an enormous mansion from the inside. Golden decorations and large mirrors decorated the walls, with almost everything having the Star emblem engraved somewhere on it.

Eventually, they stopped at an enormous golden door that was twenty times their size. Engraved in the doors center was the star emblem. Knuckle Joe walked over to the door and pushed it, and it steadily creaked open.

"We really need to fix that." Enna joked as the door finished creaking and stopped, revealing an enormous dining room.

"Who owns this place?" Kirby said, saying his first thought.

"Nobody. It was abandoned, "Marx explained, "but we found it...we guessed it belonged to an old Star Warrior, with all the emblems around. We don't really need all these tables either. Our group isn't that large."

Kirby saw all kinds of different people around him. All kinds of different races...types, colors, personalities...there was something that looked like a girl-shaped prism, if that was even possible, and she (?) was even glowing different colors of the rainbow. What looked like electric sparks coursed through her, and she was sitting with her arms crossed, looking far too serious.

Standing, believe it or not, on another table, was a Waddle Doo. He was talking cheerfully and animatedly and was making crazy gesticulations, suggesting that he was either drunk or just entertaining people. Or possibly both. Just above his eyes was a pair of green goggles that looked like something a pilot would wear. Kirby could barely make out his words, but he heard them.

"C'mon, Shard...joke a little! Lighten up for once!" he yelled, extending his hand to the prism girl. The prism girl, who Kirby guessed was named Shard, looked visibly annoyed. Quite literally, in fact, as the sparks and the rest of her with them had turned bright red.

The Doo looked scared all of a sudden, until Shard turned back to a greenish color and grabbed his hand. He breathed a sigh of relief...until Shard turned red again and the man was suddenly electrocuted. A few seconds afterward, she grinned smugly as the Doo fainted.

"Shard, was that really...necessary?" asked a large rock-like person sitting at the same table as the Doo. The rock had massive fists and a large round body, was brown, and looked like it had holes for eyes. Kirby had a sudden memory of Golems from his adventure in the Mirror labyrinth.

"Yes, Terra. Yes, it was." Shard said, as casually as if she electrocuted a teammate every single day. Kirby resisted the urge to laugh, and he watched as a group of Waddle Dees in nurse's caps ran toward the Doo, picked him up, and carried him out of the room.

"If you say so...I kind of think it was a bit...erratic." Terra replied, shrugging. He turned towards something, and then looked around frantically.

"Wait a minute...where'd my food go?" he yelled, looking under the table. Kirby almost jumped backwards as a small black mouse ran around him, scurried behind him, and changed back into Enna, who now had a leg of chicken in his/her mouth. Terra, as well as quite a few other people, noticed the group for the first time.

"KJ!" yelled Shard, glowing yellow and showing a large amount of emotion for the first time.

"MARX!" yelled Terra.

"ENNA!" screamed another voice, as a person Kirby had not noticed before jumped out of his seat and ran towards her, arms outstretched. The person in question was the same size as Kirby and was dressed in thick robes, and had what looked like a wand somewhere on his belt, which was barely visible underneath the aforementioned robes. The wizard, if that was what he was, was not wearing a hat, and you could barely see his eyes behind a thick mass of black hair. In fact, thanks to the robes, you couldn't see much of him at all. Kirby realized it was probably a Simirror without a hat.

Enna ran towards the wizard, turned into the fairy-like form from before, and jumped into the wizard's arms. Kirby stared for a few seconds at them, until Enna grabbed one of her arms with her free hand and ripped a large chunk of it straight off. There was no blood, or flesh, or anything for that matter. It was like ripping a chunk off of a piece of paper. Kirby's jaw dropped, and Enna noticed and turned towards him.

"Can you put me down for a second, Verra?" she asked, as the chunk of her arm she had just taken off changed into a rose. She gave it to the wizard, who placed her on the ground. With that, Enna walked towards Kirby and looked him straight in the eyes.

"Is there something wrong with you?" she snapped angrily as she walked closer. She transformed into an enormous fireball with glowing eyes as she said this. "Are you one of those people who still think there is something wrong with loving something that isn't your species?"

Kirby had no idea what she was talking about. He had been shocked because he hadn't known Enna could rip off a chunk of her arm, not to mention so casually. Behind him, Marx and Knuckle Joe backed away.

"I don't know...what are you...talking about?" Kirby stuttered as Enna began to burn even brighter. At those words, Enna stopped. She then changed into the fairy form again and walked closer.

"You didn't know? You aren't a racist?" she asked him, looking slightly guilty.

"A what?" Kirby asked her, having never heard the word.

"A racist. It's one of those people who think that their race and species is better than everyone elses, and they call people of the "lower race" or "lower species" insulting names, and they won't give them jobs or let them marry anyone of another species, or even be in the same room as anyone of another species, and so on." Enna explained. "There have been a lot of inter-planetary civil wars...ever since I was a baby. Some of them are still happening."

"And you thought I was a racist?" Kirby asked.

"Yeah, actually. I'm sorry," she said, visibly shrinking. "There was a war about that, too...a few species thought they were superior to shape-shifters, who are naturally peaceful, and attacked the planet I was born on for land, fame, and riches. Eventually, the shape-shifters fought back and won. But there are still a few people who don't think my kind deserve any rights at all."

The topic seemed to interest a few of the others, and they gathered around to listen. Noticing this, Enna sat down on a chair and turned towards them.

"There are a lot of other species that get the same treatment," she continued. "A certain one I can think of is one you definitely already know about. Waddle Dees. A lot of people took advantage of the fact that they are loyal and carefree, and Holy Nightmare sold them as mere servants. They don't seem to mind, but it's been like that for so long, that only the current generation's great-grandparents would remember anything even resembling freedom."

When Enna finished explaining it, she then proceeded to introduce Kirby to everyone.

"This is Verra, a Simirror wizard," she said, pointing towards the wizard. "We're in love, if you haven't figured that out already."

"That is K.J, you know him already," she continued, pointing towards Knuckle Joe.

"That is Marx, the psychic Dreamlander," she said while motioning towards Marx, who grinned. "He's nice, but he keeps to himself whenever possible."

"That is Terra, the powerful Fire Rocky," she said, motioning towards the rock-like person. "He's nice too."

"That's Shard, the overly-serious-Plasma-Wisp," she said, pointing at the prism girl, who scowled. "She doesn't talk much."

"And I'm Enna, the super-cool, fantastic, nice, awesome shape-shifter!" she yelled, turning into a giant set of grinning teeth.

"You forgot me!" someone else said, as the Waddle Doo burst into the room again, fully recovered.

"And me..." said a floating green prism.

"And me!" said a green-haired person in the background that Kirby guessed was the same species as Knuckle Joe.

"Oh yes, these guys!" Enna exclaimed, turning into a giant glove and pulling them over. "Introduce yourselves!"

"I'm Ace, the Capsule J general!" the Waddle Doo exclaimed. "I'm the one who gives them the orders, commands the fleet, and steals all the beer!" A few people chuckled.

"I'm Jackie, the inventor! Pleased to meet you, Kirby, we've all heard a lot about you!" said the green-haired Knuckle Joe, furiously shaking Kirby's hand. Jackie was wearing glasses and a lab coat.

"I am Infinity, a Mind Matter. One of the last of my kind." said the floating green prism. As it "spoke", Kirby's hand rang as if someone had just crashed two cymbals together right in front of him.

"And that's about everyone." Enna finished.

"Welcome to our...erm...base of operations," said Knuckle Joe.

"We plan to get some nuclear warheads soon, to match the theme." Ace joked

sarcastically.

Shard opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted by a knock on the door. Instead, he turned around and headed toward it.

"I've got it," she said, heading down the hallway towards the door. She ran back into the room only seconds later, the sparks in her body glowing white with fear.

"EVERYBODY, HIDE! RUN! WHATEVER! NOW!" she screamed. As if to prove her point, there was a loud pounding noise.

"Oh no..." Ace whispered. "They've discovered our hideout...This is the end..."

"Everybody, run and hide! This is an emergency!" Knuckle Joe yelled, grabbing Enna, who turned into a large megaphone. Behind them, Infinity seemed to be being pulled towards the ground. It seemed to be struggling to float back upwards.

"What's wrong with him?" Kirby asked.

"Too much emotions. He can't handle it." Terra explained. At that moment, Marx closed his eyes and the Enna megaphone disappeared from Knuckle Joe's hands and appeared floating in front of him.

"Everyone, get close to me immediately!" he commanded, yelling into the megaphone. Everyone in the room did so, and Kirby had a strange feeling he had just become invisible.

The door fell down, and Kirby could make out a familiar voice from afar.

"Find them! Search everywhere! Kill everything you see or hear, even if you don't actually see anything!" the voice commanded. It sounded oddly like...Meta Knight?

At that command, the entire room shook wildly. And hundreds of different things walked through the door. Waddle Dees, strange things with skull-like masks and miscellaneous weapons; machines wielding Yo-Yos, Simirrors (Verra snarled and Enna made a "shh" sound at the sight of them), Burning Leos, Waddle Doos, and all kinds of other demons were in the group. And as they all walked into the room, everyone else was completely silent.

Suddenly, Enna turned into a mouse and scurried away from everyone else. None of the demons seemed to notice the mouse.

Verra began to sweat as he watched Enna scurry away. Marx scowled in a "What the hell are you doing? Abandoning us?" kind of way. Kirby watched Enna scurry up the wall, and then suddenly turn into a tiny spider and crawl onto the ceiling.

What she had not realized was that someone had seen her transform. A demon wielding a mace swung it at the ceiling, and it smashed through the roof. Kirby couldn't tell whether it had hit Enna or not, until suddenly, a formless black orb appeared and hit the ground. Instantly, it turned into the fairy-like shape.

Instantly, Marx's eyes glowed and Verra was covered in a black aura.

"Do. Not. Move." he whispered.

The one who had thrown the mace picked Enna up off the ground and slung her over its shoulder.

"Destroy this place," it ordered. "We have what we came for, and the proof we need. I'm taking our little catch to Commander Meta Knight."

Kirby's jaw dropped. Marx scowled. Knuckle Joe clenched his fists. Shard turned a deep shade of black. Verra struggled to escape Marx's bind on him. Ace looked like he had just been stabbed. Terra was not smiling. Jackie looked like he was about to cry. The emotions overwhelmed Infinity, who fell.

Meta Knight had betrayed them all. Enna was either dead or about to be. And the sanctuary Kirby had just come to know was about to be destroyed.

As the demons set the building ablaze, everyone could hear a cheer that proved that things had most definitely gotten much, much worse.

"MOVE OUT! IN THE NAME OF THE BLACK FOG!"


	23. PART 22: Betrayal

**PART 22: Betrayal **

In less than a second, Marx turned off the invisibility and laid out a plan.

"Everyone but Kirby, find as many survivors as you possibly can. And someone needs to get Infinity out of here…I think he's unconscious. Once you're sure there is nobody left in the building, meet at Whispy's clearing in the forest."

"Wait…survivors? And Whispy Woods is still alive?" Kirby asked, confused.

"Waddle Dees." Marx replied.

"Waddle Dees? But what about what En-" Kirby began, stopping when he noticed Verra glaring at him.

"They volunteered. And we don't have any time for your questions. We need to get moving immediately." Marx replied, his eyes showing flashes of rage. Kirby had never seen him so serious before…even though he had just met him.

"What do I do?" Kirby asked.

"Head straight to the Fountain of Dreams and get the Star Rod. I'm sure you know how to get to it from here." Marx replied. Kirby nodded and ran past the flames and through the ruined door.

-----------------

Once Ace had left the room, following Marx's orders, he threw all the flammable objects he had been carrying…his jet pack and a few explosives, as far as he could throw them. They landed in the fire and exploded, knocking down one of the walls. As it crashed into the ground, it broke, sending bricks and other such objects flying at him. He covered his face with his arms, and the bricks and other objects pounded against them, giving him jolts of pain.

Even though his left arm was broken and his right arm was severely damaged, he was still grateful to be alive, but ungrateful for his stupidity. And he didn't want to risk that happening again…

"Wait a second…" he whispered, thinking out loud. "I don't have to! I could escape! I could leave the building and head to Whispy's forest…no, wait…there were way too many monsters. There isn't any way I could survive a second against that army! But what about the Star Warriors…no. My own life is much more important than theirs is! I've got to get out of here and get away from the Star Warriors! I won't let them pull me into a suicide mission!"

With that, he used his (somewhat) good arm to grab one of the grenades that hadn't landed in the flames, take off the top, and chuck it at one of the walls. He quickly ducked to avoid the debris that rained down upon him as the wall exploded. When the debris stopped falling, he ran out of the building. Into the dark desolate wasteland that was once Pop Star. Into the unknown. And away from everything he had thought he believed in.

---------------

Verra was extremely angry. Marx still had him under the spell, and was dragging him wherever he went to make sure he didn't run off. Marx was making him feel like a wild animal. And since Verra was yelling at Marx telepathically, Marx was getting a headache.

"Why'd you let them get away? Why'd you let them take Enna? Why'd you let Enna run away?" he yelled into Marx's mind.

"If I had revealed us, we'd all be dead right now. If I had tried to stop Enna, she would have been found anyways. There was nothing I could do." Marx replied calmly.

"And what about Meta Knight? What's he going to do to her? You know all this stuff, and you better tell me." Verra ordered.

"I don't know why Meta Knight is working for the Black Fog either…"

"Ha! How'd you know that betraying bastard was working for the Fog? Are you a double agent? Are you a traitor too?"

Marx glared, and two gloves appeared out of nowhere next to him. The gloves were surrounded in a white aura, and had no arms attached to them. The gloves turned towards Verra and attacked him, grabbing his neck and lifting him high off the ground.

"Shut up, you damn fool! Your stubbornness and lack of control will get us all killed one day!" Marx yelled out loud. Behind him, the flames seemed to be burning brighter. The gloves vanished, and Verra plummeted to the ground.

Verra was suddenly very afraid of Marx. And he suddenly didn't trust him as much as he had before.

--------------

Terra was doing more rescuing than anyone. Since he was a Fire Rocky, he had natural resistance to flames, and he could run right through them without a problem. And his size made it easy to carry as many people as was needed. But there was something that he couldn't stop thinking about…

""Meta Knight... a traitor? No…that can't be right. He... he would never... do something like this. I... I... I just can't believe it. Why Meta Knight? We all trusted you. Why...?"

Those thoughts continued to plague his mind, no matter how much he attempted to shake them off. After a while of searching, he found what looked like another unconscious Waddle Dee nearby the rubble from a fallen wall. The Dee looked alright, but he needed to get it out of here.

As soon as he got nearby, the Dee woke up and began to spout out nonsensical babble in what Terra guessed what a completely different language. Another one of the Dees he had rescued began to immediately translate.

"Ace has ran away…he threw some green can things at a wall and the wall fell down all around me, and then he ran away. The Fog is getting into the building."

With those words, the Dee who had been unconscious moments before closed its eyes and was dead. And a black mist floated out of its body and sailed at Terra, who was soon engulfed in darkness.

-----------------

Shard lifted Infinity off the ground and ran through the flames, through the hallways, through the rubble, and outside, out of the ruined door.

No sooner had she walked outside than she was greeted by something out of her nightmares.

The sky crackled with energy and lightning, and black shadows slithered through the ground and sky. Smoke rose high into it, and nearby, the forest was ablaze. When she turned around, she could see their sanctuary, falling apart slowly and so deeply engulfed in flames that you could barely see any of the actual building.

And her teammates were in there…no; her friends were in there. Dying. And there wasn't anything she could do.

She looked at the forest again, and she noticed something she had not noticed before. A figure. Walking towards her. Holding something.

"Who are you?" she called.

The figure did not answer. She called again.

"Who are you?"

The figure still didn't answer. Soon though, it was close enough for her to figure out exactly what it was holding. It was holding a dead Waddle Doo, it's face a pale white color, and it's eyes were wide open and glazed. The Waddle Doo was wearing a pair of green pilot goggles…

"Oh my..." she said, cupping a hand over her mouth and backing away. The sparks inside of her began to glow a deep shade of blue.

"Now don't cry, dear. It's not like you'll never see him again," said the strange figure in a falsely soothing voice. The voice sounded as cold as the iciest of blizzards.

Suddenly, two ropes made of solid mist bound Shard's hands together. She didn't struggle, and the figure walked close enough for her to see it.

It looked like her, only made of solid black mist. It had sockets where eyes should be, like a skeleton. In the center of its stomach was an enormous red eye. Shard gasped, and the Fog figure brushed the side of her cheek with its misty hand.

"It's too bad that such beauty must go to waste…but alas, even the greatest of roses are sometimes plucked." he cooed. She moved her head away from it, but it grabbed it and turned it back.

"Now, now…are you afraid of me, dearest?" it said in a falsely soothing matter.

"No, I'm not afraid of you…not at all." she lied, her voice quaking.

"It's useless to lie, dearest. And you have good reason to be afraid. I know so much about you now, thanks to him…"

"What? What did he…"

"He betrayed you, my dear. He ran away and ran right into me. Immediately, I took advantage of the moment and stole his soul, and with it, his skills, his knowledge, and his life."

"And you're going to do the same to me, aren't you?" she asked. Her voice wasn't quaking this time. She was ready.

"No, no, my sweet…rather, I have decided I have no use for your knowledge. I have a better use for you. You shall be my queen."

Shard was stunned. Shocked. And very, very afraid.

"My dearest…are you not happy that I am sparing your life? Or would you rather die before becoming my queen?" it asked her.

"I would rather die before having anything to do with you," she stated confidently.

"That can be arranged, dearest." it said, as it grabbed her head and forced her into a deep kiss…and slowly, she could feel herself losing consciousness, and she could feel something misty traveling down her throat.

---------------

Marx had rescued everyone he could…he couldn't sense anyone else in the building besides his friends…until suddenly, he couldn't sense them anymore either. Verra noticed his expression.

"What's going on? Where is everyone?" he asked via telepathy. Before Marx could answer, he was on the ground, writhing in pain. Regardless of how little he trusted Marx, Verra was suddenly worried. Even more so when he made out a few words between whatever Marx was mumbling.

"Get…out…building…now…fog…save…woods…shard…ship…"

With that, Marx vanished completely, likely having teleported. Before Verra could blink, he found himself standing outside of a forest. He could see something strange far away…a man? A girl?

He realized whom the girl was by the sparks coursing through her veins…he wanted to yell for her, but instinct seemed to be holding him back. He watched as the man grabbed her and…kissed her? He was confused, until he noticed the electricity that was coursing through her veins was beginning to flicker and fade…

"SHARD!" he yelled, as he ran at the strange man.

----------------------

His sack of inventions and potions slung over his shoulder, Jackie raced through the building, rescuing whatever and whomever he could find. He knew more than anything that saving another was much more important than saving himself. One of the inventions he was using was an extremely powerful, easy-to-carry-fire-extinguisher-turned-hose. He planned to patent it as soon as the entire ordeal was over.

It wasn't too long after Marx had laid out the plan before he heard an explosion. Looking for the source of the sound lead him to a room with two of the walls knocked down. Unused grenades were scattered on the parts of the floors untouched by the flames, and he was quick to pick them up and spray the flames with the extinguisher hose. It was after he did this that he noticed a bunch of bodies sprawled on the ground. On instinct, he threw his bag in front of him and began to dig through it.

"First aid…first aid…first aid…" he thought. Suddenly, his thoughts were interrupted by a beeping sound in his right ear.

The radar.

Quickly, he pulled something out of his coat pocket and spun around. He realized too late that he had pulled out the wrong item. He had pulled out a cross instead of the star gun, and now he was facing the Black Fog's enormous eye and holding a cross out to it as if it was a vampire. The Fog swayed back and forth in the air in front of him, while always keeping it's enormous eye focused on him. Jackie gulped, and tried to put the cross back. As he started to, the fog stopped swaying. As he put it all the way back in his pocket, it sailed at him.

Quickly, he pulled it back out, and the fog stopped again and started swaying. Jackie was confused, and he took a closer look at the cross.

There was an inscription on it. It read:

Newh ssenkrad sesir, dna seoreh llaf, newh eht tsegnorts tnod rewsna eht llac…

Tsuj kool ot eht srats, dna kool ot eht nus, kool ta erehw lla emit negub.

Eht tserup rorrim sdloh eht rewsna, eht tsirup rorrim si eht yek,

Ot gnikam eht gof ton lla taht uoy ees.

He couldn't understand it, and he had a feeling it wasn't even in English. While he was staring at it, he failed to notice the fact that the Fog had stopped swaying.

"The mirror…" whispered an extremely icy voice. "And that must be…"

Jackie stared at the Fog, confused. The fog began to fly around him, still speaking.

"Tell you what, Jackie…if you give me that rune, than I'll leave here and won't ever return." it said, it's voice almost genuinely reassuring.

Jackie thought carefully. He didn't think the cross was very useful…and the Fog's voice sounded like it was being completely truthful. Although it seemed hard to trust the fog, he knew he couldn't take any chances…and there wasn't much anything could do with an ancient hunk of wood.

"Deal." he responded, throwing the cross at the fog. It disappeared into the blackness and could no longer be seen. The fog seemed to smile, even though it didn't have a mouth. Jackie let out a sigh of relief.

No sooner had he opened his mouth than the Fog attacked him, sailing right through him as if he wasn't there. For a few seconds, Jackie felt strange…as if he was floating on air, in a dream world…and then, he began to fall…fall into darkness…he couldn't see, smell, see, breathe…only feel pain, and barely any emotion. And the pain felt like something had ripped an enormous hole inside his chest.

"You…lied…" he gasped, as he curled up on the ground.

"Actually, no I did not. I told you I would leave here and never return…I never said I would not kill you, and I never said WHEN I'd leave. I planned to never return anyways." it replied. Jackie tried to respond, but all that came out was a loud cough.

And then, all was black.

-----------

The Fog knew Verra was running at it before Verra had even begun running. And yet it stood there, holding the now lifeless Shard in its icy grip. It stood there as Verra pulled out his wand and sent out a large volley of rainbow-colored beams. And it stood there as Verra was hit by his own attack as it reflected off the Fog's misty body. It didn't move. It didn't flinch. It just stood there as if nothing had happened.

The Fog did not turn and comment on how pathetic the attack was. It did not challenge Verra. It did not turn towards him and banter with him, and it did not simply kill him on the spot.

This was what surprised Verra. This…thing showed no remorse to its victims, or any emotion when attacked or when attacking. Not anger. Not sadness. It had no reasons to kill anything. It had nothing to prove. It had nothing to gain but some form of supernatural strength. And it had no use for this strength. It killed because it could. It destroyed because it could, and it brought entire worlds to their knees for the hell of it. Yet it was not happy when it killed things. Nor was it sad. It had and was nothing but a cold lack of emotions. An icy, bleak cold, like the furthest reaches of the Artic.

Alone, it had killed millions of innocent creatures, and made thousands of races extinct in a period of time so short nothing could prepare for it. And yet, barely a drop of blood was spilled, as it left things nothing but empty, breathing shells, and then left their soulless bodies to murder one-another.

It was the embodiment of every drop of fear, every drop of hatred and betrayal, every drop of anger and rage, every drop of negative emotions…and yet, it was emotionless. How could something made of so much emotion have none to call its own?

------------

"Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock." Meta Knight mocked, holding a small round clock on a chain in front of him and swinging it back and forth. It was hard to see him, as he was hidden in the darkness of the ruins of the castle underground.

He held the clock still, and it wiggled by itself, as if alive. He held it close and whispered something.

"I bet you don't like being controlled. You get used to it after a while."

"Damn it…let me…let me go…" the clock whispered.

"Now, now, Enna…you're my bait. I can't exactly let you escape, or I won't catch anything. And I've got one particular fish I've got my eye on. A little round pink one headed to the Fountain of Dreams as we speak. Unfortunately for the little fish, he's got quite a welcoming party waiting for him."

Meta Knight swung the clock again and again, over and over, and his eyes, now blood red, shined in the darkness.

------------

Kirby had found the fountain without much difficulty. Getting to it alive might be an entirely different story. For he was standing less than a mile away from the same army who had attacked the mansion. He was hiding behind a chunk of a boulder.

Without a doubt, he was literally in-between a rock and a hard place.

--------------

Verra launched volley after volley of rainbow-colored blasts at the Fog, and the Fog did not react any of the times he fired.

He was wondering why it hadn't simply killed him by now. And he noticed it standing there, staring at Shard's lifeless body…was it a spark of emotion? Did it feel remorse for its victim?

"Unbelievable…" it whispered. Its voice was barely audible at such a distance. "Until now, I have never felt the slightest amount of remorse for the things I have killed. And suddenly, here I am, with so many hopes and memories flowing from this girl into my body…or lack thereof, really. So many dreams. So much hope. And now, I have taken it all away, just like the people I hate so much…"

It stopped, cocked its head toward Verra, and threw Shard's lifeless body onto the ground.

-----------------

Kirby leaped out from behind the rock so quickly, that it caught every demon in the army off guard. Quickly, he swallowed a sword-wielding knight and started to transform into Sword Kirby.

Immediately after transforming, he unleashed an assault for the history books. He sliced a robot in half and knocked one half into another enemy, and he followed that by firing a beam from the tip of his sword at a Waddle Doo in the distance. A Blade Knight surprised him from the back, and he countered the attack with his own dashing slash. At that same instant, missiles sailed through the sky and homed in on Kirby, who barely managed to dodge them. The missiles instead hit some of the demons attacking him, killing them.

Soon, the entire sky was filled with fireballs, rockets, and blasts of energy. Smoke filled the air, along with the smell of flames and blood. It was becoming so difficult to see, Kirby was beginning to wonder if he was going blind.

The demons were having difficulty seeing him as well. A Sword Knight leaped through the smoke and sailed right past him, crashing into the ground. A rocket zoomed directly over his head. Kirby tried to take advantage of this and get to the Fountain, but he couldn't see that either. The sounds of the battle were making his ears ring.

But the sounds had stopped, and an even louder sound shattered the air. It was the shriek of an enormous bird, bigger than any kind in the entire universe. And with an enormous gust of powerful wind, the smoke cleared, and Kirby watched an enormous multi-colored bird land in front of him. The bird was so large that Kirby could barely see anything but its powerful talons. The bird bowed low and spread its enormous rainbow wings.

"Dynablade…" Kirby whispered. He didn't notice the figure standing on the bird's head. The figure jumped down in front of him, and Kirby recognized him instantly.

"Verra!" he yelled in surprise, as the Star Warrior limped over to him. "Where is everyone?"

"Dead. All of them." Verra said, pushing Kirby aside. Kirby watched him limp over to the Fountain, which was only a few feet away. Kirby was silent.

He watched as Verra grabbed hold of the side of the gigantic fountain and begin to climb up. He watched his utter determination as he began to climb it with one arm.

That was when Kirby noticed it. One of Verra's arms was gone as if it had never been there. There was just a sleeve hanging limply by his side.

Kirby was still silent. He was worried, but he felt it would be best not to ask any questions. With one arm, Verra grabbed onto the top of the Fountain and climbed onto it. The Fountain glowed as his feet touched its crystal waters.

Verra walked to the center of the fountain, and climbed onto the pedestal that the Star Rod resided and the waters flowed from. With his remaining arm, he touched the Star Rod.

There was a whooshing sound, a bright light, and a loud scream, followed by silence. Kirby covered his eyes and waited for the light to fade. As soon as it had, he looked toward the top of the Fountain.

Verra was high in the air, an orange sword going through his stomach and keeping him suspended. Holding the sword was Meta Knight, a dark glint in his eyes.

"Well, would you look at that? I caught the wrong fish. Ah well, might as well toss it back." Meta Knight mocked as he stabbed his sword into the fountain and pulled it out of Verra. Kirby noticed the sound of his voice. Icy like the coldest winter.

Kirby was stunned into silence. Meta noticed him.

"Ah, there you are."

"Meta Knight?" Kirby said, finding his voice. "What are you doing?"

"Meta Knight? Silly Kirby, Meta Knight is no more. There's just fog. All around you. It is everyone. Everything."

"What are you talking about? I know what you are. You're just a manifestation of Meta. The real Meta would have resisted the fog."

"In the same way he resisted Nightmare? You fool, he's always had me lurking inside him, waiting for the right moment. That moment has come, and all I needed to do was wait for the right moment. That moment has come."

"Meta Knight is stronger than that."

"Wrong. And now it is time for Dreamland's lazy lifestyle to end. I. Will. RULE."


	24. PART 23: Meta Knight

**PART 23: Meta Knight**

With those words, Meta Knight flapped his huge wings and sailed at Kirby, sword drawn. Kirby held his own sword out in front of him to block the attack, but it did not come. Kirby looked up and around him to try to find Meta Knight, but he wasn't there.

"Let me go, you damn fool!" Meta Knight yelled. Kirby looked above him and saw Dynablade holding Meta Knight in her beak. Meta Knight struggled to escape, swinging his sword around uselessly, fuming.

Kirby leaped at the struggling Meta Knight and swung his sword. The attack rebounded off Meta Knight's mask, and Kirby bounced backwards and crashed into the ground. Meta Knight broke free of Dynablade's grip and landed on the ground. Immediately upon landing, he charged at Kirby, his eyes red with madness.

Before he reached Kirby, a floating white glove with no hands inside of it sailed out of nowhere and grabbed Meta Knight. It closed into a fist and squeezed him, and bolts of electricity coursed throughout the glove. The glove threw Meta Knight onto the ground and shook itself.

Kirby leaped back to his feet and sprinted toward the Star Rod while Meta Knight got up and began to attack the glove. Kirby puffed up his cheeks and floated to the top of the fountain, and ran through the waters toward the Star Rod.

Meta Knight noticed this and stopped attacking the glove. Instead, he turned around and flew at Kirby, who didn't notice Meta Knight attacking. Before he could reach the Star Rod, Meta Knight slashed the back of his head, cutting a huge gash in it. Kirby collapsed into the waters of the fountain.

As Meta Knight prepared to deliver a finishing blow, the giant glove changed into a giant black serpent, which snapped at Meta Knight with rows of long teeth. Meta Knight anticipated the attack, and quickly parried it by slicing upwards and cutting right into the serpent's head. The serpent fell and turned into a Simirror, who split apart and escaped from the blade of the sword…

Meanwhile, Kirby struggled to get up. He was now seeing double, and his head was ringing. The sounds of roaring and slashing filled his ears from seemingly every direction. Disorientated, he tried to reach for the Star Rod.

------------

The ship was filled with an uncontrollable, unsurpassable amount of chaos and panic. Curio was dead, and the three days were mere minutes from being over. From space, you could already see the fog beginning to leave.

They were all about to die. All of them. And the last ray of hope had faded, leaving them lost and afraid on what might have been a path to their salvation.

----------

Kirby touched it. The 5-point star on the tip of a huge, slender wand. The Star Rod. The object that controlled the Fountain of Dreams and the object that had supposedly destroyed the demonic Nightmare. It was in his grasp now.

Before he could take it, a large shockwave of energy split the sky and smashed into Kirby, throwing him off the fountain before he could get the weapon he so desperately needed.

The ever-changing glove that had saved Kirby before, who now was taking the shape of a small person, jumped over an attack from Meta Knight, and then countered it by changing into a spiked ball and charging at him. Meta Knight skillfully jumped out of the way, but he jumped right into Dynablade's talons. Dynablade let out a powerful screech and flapped her enormous wings, lifting Meta Knight off the ground.

Kirby tried to get back onto the fountain, but the wind from Dynablade's wings was keeping him back. Instead, he sat on the ground and waited for the wind to stop.

Meta Knight struggled to escape Dynablade's grip, but Dynablade just flew higher and higher.

"You foul little…!" Meta Knight roared. "Release me or I'll destroy you!"

Meta Knight's eyes turned purple, and he was suddenly surrounded by a black aura. The aura grew larger until it became almost impossible to see, and then there was a bright flash.

When the light cleared, there was an enormous hole just below where Dynablade was flying. Dynablade kept on flying, unscathed by whatever it was Meta Knight had just done.

"Dyna, drop Meta Knight!" the shape-shifting glove ordered. Dynablade shrieked and released Meta Knight, who began to fall towards the ground. The shape-shifting glove changed into a giant rocket launching platform, which immediately fired missile after missile at the falling swordsman.

At that same moment, Kirby noticed that the wind had stopped, and he floated back up towards the Fountain again, his vision clear. He landed on the top, ran towards the pedestal, and pulled the Star Rod out of the Dream Fountain.

There was a bright flash, and Kirby was suddenly in a deep trance. His eyes closed and he drifted into unconsciousness. He fainted and the light cleared.

--------------

The Cappies stormed Dedede's ship, hitting the door and screaming at the top of their lungs. The door was locked, and they didn't have anything they could use to break it down by force.

They got their answer when a Waddle Doo opened the door and tried to say something. Instead of listening, they knocked the helpless Doo out of the way and ran into the ship. This was their last chance. Their only chance. And their only hope.

---------------

Kirby's head rang, as if someone was playing a giant drum inside it. He was in an area full of blackness and was staggering back and forth as if dizzy. Voices screamed within his head.

"FREE ME…"

"RELEASE ME…"

"DO NOT LEAVE ME ALONE…"

"SAVE ME…"

"DESTROY THE FOUNTAIN…"

"LET ME GO…"

The voices made his head ring more, and he staggered backwards, the Star Rod becoming increasingly difficult to wield. White shadows appeared in the blackness. Formless shadows with gaping mouths, screaming at him, shrieking like banshees.

"Stop…" Kirby whispered, his voice quaking. The voices were getting louder. Louder. Louder. The shadows reached out paper-thin, bony hands and reached toward him…Kirby felt himself getting warmer and warmer as beads of sweat ran down his forehead. He closed his eyes and tried to take control of his thoughts, but they were filling them…

Louder…LOUDER….**LOUDER…**It was unbearable…Kirby wasn't sure how much more of it he could take…

He screamed and fired blasts of energy from the Star Rod in every direction. The shadows recoiled, and another shadow appeared as the blackness turned into a multi-colored void.

Kirby staggered and was hit by a powerful weapon. He fell onto the ground, if it was ground, and pain shot through his side. More shadows appeared in the void…of all sizes…with barely any form, screaming and reaching at him. They were shrieking…louder and louder…it was utterly unbearable…

He couldn't think at all…his vision and mind swirled…the shadows grabbed him and began to lift him into the air. He could barely tell they were touching him…they didn't feel like anything at all…but he could see their bony, thin hands grabbing onto him, pulling him. And he had to escape…everything depended on it…

Desperate and becoming increasingly insane, he bit one of the hands that was holding him. The hand and shadows recoiled and released him, and he fell towards the ground.

Desperate to escape from this maddening nirvana, Kirby ran through the pulsing void as quickly as he possibly could. But he wasn't going anywhere. He wasn't moving. Instead, he was frozen, running in place.

Kirby felt himself losing his mind. He tried to turn around. Nothing.

Kirby tried to simply lay down, but he couldn't do that either. He was trapped.

------------

Meta Knight had stopped attacking. He was staring at Kirby, confused. Kirby was standing on the fountain, being pulled around, hit, lifted into the air, and bounced around by a bizarre invisible force. Suddenly, a stream of fireballs lit the sky and engulfed Meta Knight, incinerating a large portion of his cape.

Dynablade seemed to be laughing. Meta Knight fumed and went back to fighting.

--------------

Kirby closed his eyes and began to focus. Began to meditate. He had barely any control over his mind now, and he had to get it back. There was no choice…it was either destroy the Star Rod, or lose his own mind to whatever lay inside it…

"YES…FREE US…" The voices screamed as Kirby smashed the Star Rod against the very air itself.

Somehow, it worked. The Star Rod shattered like glass against something solid that he couldn't see. The pieces flew around him like leaves in wind, and then turned into dust. Less than a second later, Kirby was knocked backwards by a powerful shockwave, which simultaneously unleashed tsunamis of dust and fog as the Fountain of Dreams exploded, sending shards flying into the air. As Kirby fell, he opened his eyes to be greeted by a million other ones…The Black Fog was watching him.

Before he landed, Kirby saw something fly by him, bursting through the Fog…a black and purple orb, dotted in pale silver stars...

Kirby's long fall to the ground was interrupted by a solid wall, which he smashed into back-first. He hit the ground, and looked around himself.

There weren't any walls around him. What had he run into?

Before he had any time to think about it, a sword flew at his head. Kirby rolled around it to dodge it, and then heard a voice nearby him.

"Take it."

He looked for the source of the voice, but there was nobody there. He looked around some more, and saw the silhouette of Meta Knight a few feet away. The warrior's back was turned, so it faced him.

Kirby grabbed the sword, and was greeted by a million eyes all around him. Huge, red eyes, gathering around them like there was a fight to be held.

"What?"

"This is our arena. You will not leave it. You will fight me to the death." Meta Knight explained from afar. "I will finally see how skilled you have become…for this will be our last battle. Prepare yourself, Kirby. If you mean to save the ones you love, you must not hold back."

Meta Knight drew his sword without turning around. An eerie red flame surrounded the blade, and Meta Knight faced Kirby. His eyes were surrounded by a flame just like the one around his sword.

"This is it! Prepare to die!" Meta Knight screamed, throwing his cape behind him and running at Kirby, sword out. Kirby tried to use his own sword to block, but Meta Knight moved amazingly fast, striking him before he even had the chance to block. Meta Knight somersaulted backwards after unleashing the attack, and then landed a few feet away.

Kirby charged at Meta Knight, who stood there with his sword out. The flame began to glow brighter. Kirby slashed at Meta Knight, who quickly blocked the attack and flipped into the air. His cape turned into a pair of black wings and he swooped at Kirby, slashing him in the back.

Kirby tried to face Meta again, who had landed. Meta began to walk back and forth, always facing his opponent and seeming to try to keep a certain distance from him. Kirby stood completely still, trying to see if Meta Knight would strike first.

Meta Knight charged again, but Kirby was ready. Kirby spun around with his sword out as Meta Knight rushed by him, and the resulting strike ripped through Meta Knight's cape, leaving a large piece of it on the end of Kirby's sword. Kirby stared at Meta Knight, who had stopped moving. He watched him grab the place where his cape had just been.

"Blood…" Meta Knight whispered. "You actually hit me…It appears I have underestimated you."

"Underestimated?"

"Yes…You are going easy on me, as I am on you. Do not do that, or I will make you fight at your fullest."

"Huh?"

Meta Knight lifted his hands into the air and spread them apart, and the fog above them parted, revealing a clear night sky. The sky was so clear that an enormous silver ship could be seen in it.

"Everyone you know is inside that ship, and the three days are minutes from over. You may not know it yet, but the fog is already beginning to leave. And you do know what will happen when that happens, don't you?"

Kirby didn't understand what he meant.

"They'll all die."

Kirby stared at him in disbelief.

"The satellites, Kirby….did you hear of them? Every time the Fog destroyed a planet, it destroyed everything around it." Meta explained.

Kirby didn't bother saying anything. Either Meta Knight was lying…or…

Kirby looked around him. The fog surrounding the strange bubble around him and Meta Knight was beginning to vanish. Even worse, it was beginning to gather in an enormous cloud above them.

"Oh no…" Kirby whispered.

"So stop holding back! If you mean to save them, then fight me at your fullest!" Meta Knight ordered.

Kirby stared at Meta Knight for a minute. How could he attack, much less kill, his own mentor? He had a feeling Meta Knight wasn't lying at all…and defeating him would be the only way to save his friends.

But why did Meta Knight want to fight him so much?

------------------------

The Cappies continued their assault on DeDeDe's ship, knocking down everything that got in their way as they attempted to storm the main control room. If they had to kill DeDeDe to get the ship away, then so be it.

As they pounded against the golden sliding door in front of them, they were completely oblivious to the fact that the ship was rumbling underneath their feet, as if in the middle of an earthquake. The tremors were getting stronger every second, until the Cappies began to lose their balance. They stopped pounding on the door, stared at each other for a few minutes, and sank to their knees.

"This is it, isn't it?" asked one, saying what was on everyone's mind.

Their fears were realized when the entire ship seemed to be tossed into the air. The ship began to fly out of orbit, wildly spinning around and throwing everyone inside against the walls. Outside, the windows shattered, and screaming could be heard, as well as an enormous rush of wind.

The ship shook more and more violently every second, as people held onto whatever they possibly could hold onto. But there was nothing to hold onto, and people flew against the walls with such force that it felt like their ribs were going to be dislocated from their midsections. Only minutes into the tremors, almost everyone was either paralyzed or dead.

And that was only the beginning of it. The tremors flipped the ship over to it's side as an enormous wave of purple and black energy ripped through the ship's midsection, ripping the entire middle section of the ship in half, causing an entire half of the ship to be knocked out of orbit, where it then fell to the planet below.

DeDeDe's ship was unharmed, as a strange black bubble had protected it from the blast. All that remained now was that ship and the other half of the one that had just been completely destroyed. That part of the ship was holding onto DeDeDe's ship, and orbit, by only a single hallway, which had also been spared from the blast.

All of the Cappies were now dead, bleeding to death, or paralyzed. Almost all of the Cappies who had stayed on the parts of the ship that had not been spared were completely destroyed...

-----------------

At the time of the Star Rod's destruction, Marx had found Infinity, who was not regaining consciousness. Marx did not expect him to…there wasn't much happiness in the area at all, and the ground itself seemed to be radiating sadness. The resulting explosion, on the other hand, caught Marx off guard, and did something he would have never expected.

It all happened extremely quickly. Marx was knocked off his feet, and was laying against the ground when he watched an enormous black and purple beam burst through the sky, rocket into space, hit a huge silver ship in the distance, and finally, make a complete turn and rocket down towards _him._

It was impossible to dodge. The blast hit the very spot where he was standing, overturning the ground and incinerating everything in an hundred-mile radius. The blast left an enormous crater where he had just been standing, as well as a cloud of black and purple dust.

When that dust cleared, there was nobody there. Not Marx. Not Infinity. Nobody.

------------------

When the blast hit, Meta Knight and Kirby stopped fighting. Both of them stared at the beam as it ripped through the ship's midsection. Kirby stared in shock. Meta Knight seemed to smile.

"Well, well, you're too late." he taunted. "The Fog didn't even have to do anything. Thanks to me keeping you here and you destroying the Star Rod, they're all gone."

Kirby glared.

"But I'm sure there are other planets that need saving, after all…and the only way to get to them is to fight me. Or do you not care about that? Strike me down, Kirby…or you'll die, and the universe will have no savior." Meta Knight continued.

Kirby had no choice. He held his sword in front of him, and Meta Knight did the same.

"Very good…"


End file.
